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CANONSBURG 
CENTENNIAL 



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E I g h t e c n 
N i 71 e t e e 71 



H u n d 7' e d T iv o 
H It 71 d r e d T iv o 



Addresses in Commem- 
oration of the One Hun- 
dredth Anniversary of the 
Incorporation of the ^ 

BOROUGH OF 
CANONSBURG 

Washington County 
^ Pennsylvania 




EDITED FOR THE COMMITTEE BY 

BLAINE EWING, L. L. B. 



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COPYRIGHT 1903 BY BLAINE EWING 



Pittsburgh Printing Company 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 



Canonsburg Centennial 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Introductory i 

The Meeting of February 22nd. 1902 4 

Address of W. B. Smiley, D. D 7 

" " Blaine Ewing 11 

" D. H. Fee 26 

" Rev. J. M. Work 36 



Part Second 

Preliminary ., 41 

Address of Thomas Patterson 49 

Reply of Thomas Reese 60 

Address of John R. Paxton, D. D 63 

Address of Matthew Brown Riddle, D. D 79 

Centennial Ode by David Reed Miller, D. D 89 

Address of A. A. Lambing, L. L. D loi 

Address of Blaine Ewing 1 19 

Appendices 163 

Index to Portraits 

W. B. Chambers ix 

T. M. Potts •• xi 

John L. McClelland xi 

\V. B. Gowern xi 

Samuel McWilliams xiii 

David H. Fee xiii 

Samuel Munnell xiii 

Stewart McPeake xiii 

W. L. McCloy xiii 

J. V. H. Cook XV 

George Briceland xv 

J. Brad Johnson xv 

S. A. Lacock xv 

George D. McNutt xv 



Contents 



William H. Paxton xvii 

John B. Donaldson, M. D xvii 

S. Clark Smith xvii 

David Hart xvii 

Thomas Patterson, facing page SO 

John R. Paxton, D. D., facing page 64 

M. B. Riddle, D. D., facing page 80 

A. A. Lambing, LL. D., facing page 102 

Blaine Ewing, facing page 120 

Rev. Robert Patterson, facing page 149 

Aunt Margaret McCroby, facing page Tz 



List of Illustrations 

The Watson Corner xix 

Canonsburg in 1833 xxi 

Dr. McMillan's log college xxiii 

Chartiers Woolen Factory 8 

The Black Horse Tavern 14 

The Briceland Tavern 16 

Hector McFadden's Hotel 22 

The West Ward Public School 24 , 

Canonsburg after the fire 28 , 

Col. George Morgan's House 132 

Trying to hear the speakers 40 

Trying to hear the speakers 44 

View of the Parade 48 

Columbia and the thirteen states S6 

The Canonsburg Council in 1902 60 • 

Miller's Run Church 84 

The Philadelphia Company Exhibit 96 

The Hill Church 128 . 

The First Plot of Canonsburg 146 y 

The Second Plot of Canonsburg Appendix 

The Churches of Canonsburg 128-136 

Jefferson College as it now appears 152 ■ 

Deed of John Canon Appendix 

Map showing the Patents granted to John Canon. Appendix. • 
Map showing the road from Canonsburg to Pittsburg. Appendix. '' 
Power of Attorney from George Washington to John Canon, Front- 
ispiece. 



Canonsburg Centennial 



Central Committee 

W. B. Chambers, Chairman. William H. Paxton, 

Th. Maxwell Potts, vice chairman. S. Clark Smith, 

John S. McClelland, Secretary. John B. Donaldson, M. D., 

Samuel McWilliams, David Hart, 

D. H. Fee. R. Fred Douds, 

Walter L. McCloy, Wesley Greer, Esq., 

Stewart McP^ake, Blaine Ewing. Esq., 

Samuel Munnell. Sr., Joseph B. Donaldson, 

J. V. H. Cook, John C. Morgan, 

J. Brad. Johnson, Ralph Martin, 

L. A. Lacock, M. D., Joseph G. Charlton, 

George D. McNutt, John L. Cockins, Esq. 



Sub-Committees 

FINANCE COMMITTEE. 

Joseph B. Donaldson, Chairman. 

George V. Harsha, Walter L. McCloy, 

Oliver L. Paxton, John A. Berry, 

R. Fred Douds, S. A. Crozier, 

W. K. Galbraith, Richard Jones, 

W. J. Gowern, Dr. S. A. Lacock, 

Culbert M. Greer, George G. McMillan, 

George C. McPeake, Homer Shaffer. 
Howard L. Cockins, 



COMMITTEE ON SPEAKERS. 

Dr. John B. Donaldson, Chairman. 
Rev. W. B. Smiley, D. D. Rev. D. W. Heazelton. 



COMMITTEE ON MILITARY RECORD. 

John V. H. Cook, Addison Coleman, 

H. A. Huston, Jas. F. Speer, 

Wm. McWilliams, David Hart. 

J. Brad Johnson, Thomas Reese, 

John W Grubbs. 



Sub-Committees 



COMMITTEE ON RULES. 

Wesley Greer, Chairman. Samuel McWilliams, 

T. Maxwell Potts, W. B. Chambers. 

COMMITTEE ON MUSIC. 

David Hart, Chairman. J. W. Munnell, 

Dr. J. C. Rankin, M. C. Wilson, 

W. A. Dickson, Ross Hott. 

COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS. 

Samuel McWilliams, Chairman. John McCahon, 
Thos. Maxwell Potts, Miss Natalie Snyder, 

Miss Jeanette Dickson, Ralph Martin. 

RECEPTION COMMITTEE. 

R. Fred Douds, Chairman. Dr. W. H. Alexander. 

Rev. W. F. Brown, D. D., Wesley Greer, 

John L. McClelland, Robert M. McCullough, 

Wm. H. Paxton, R. H. Black, 

W. L. McCloy, Ralph Martin, 

C. C. Johnson, W. H. McNary, 
George D. McNutt, Robert T. Kirk, 

D. H. Fee, Joseph G. Charlton, 

W. K. Galbraith. 

COMMITTEE ON PROGRAMME. 

Wesley Greer, Chairman. John L. McClelland. 

William H. Paxton, W. J. Gowern, 

Dr. Jno. B. Donaldson, Wm. B. Chambers. 

COMMITTEE ON MEDALS AND BADGES. 

S. Clark Smith, Chairman. 
Dr. A. L. Runnion. George McWilliams. 

COMMITTEE ON GROUNDS. 
J. V. H. Cook, Chairman. 



Canonsburg Centennial 



COMMITTEE ON DATE OF CELEBRATION. 

Dr. S. A. Lacock, Chairman. 

COMMITTEE ON PRIVILEGES. 
John L. Cockins, Chairman. 

HISTORICAL COMMITTEE. 
S. Blaine Ewing, Chairman. 
Wesley Greer, T. Maxwell Potts, 

Samuel McMillan, Dr. Jno. Morrison. 

COMMITTEE ON DECORATIONS. 

George D. McNutt. Chairman. A. A. Adams. 



COMMITTEE ON CANON DESCENDENTS. 
S. Blaine Ewing, Chairman. 
D. H. Fee. C. M. Greer. 



COMMITTEE ON PARADE. 
W. H. Paxton, Chairman. 
L. M. Porter, C. M. Greer, 

G. C. McPeake, H. L. Cockins, 

Si L. Kennedy, W. A. Dickson, 

A. A. Rowe, George McWilliams. 

PRESS COMMITTEE. 
John C. Morgan, Chairman. 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. 
Samuel Munell, Sr., Chairman. 



MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE 




W. B. CHAMBERS 

CHAIRMAN 




TH. MAXWELL POTTS 

VICE-CHAIRMAN 



WILLIAM J. GOWERN 

TREASURER 



JOHN L. McClelland 

SECRETARY 




SAMUEL McWlLLIAMS 



SAMUEL MUNNELL, SR. 



STEWART McPEAKE 



D. H. FEE 



WALTER L. McCLOY 




J. V. H. COOK GEORGE BRICELAND 

J. BRAD JOHNSON 
S. A. LACOCK, M. D. GEORGE D. McNUTT 




WILLIAM H. PAXTON 
JOHN B. DONALDSON, M. D. 



S. CLARK SMITH 
DAVID HART 






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Introductory 

ESIDE the crystal waters of the Char- 
tiers, unpolhited by a teeming popula- 
tion with its many mills and industries, 
in the long ago the town of Canonsburg, 
sat on the southern slope of a command- 
ing hill and gazed upon the changing 
seasons as they came and went. Since 
it was first projected and plotted on the records, the United 
States has passed from a colony of Great Britain into a 
mighty nation, independent, aggressive and powerful. Its 
sons have gone forth to labor in the great world, or fight 
for the nation. From the time of the nation's birth 
through the Revolution, the Mexican War, the Rebellion 
and the war with Spain, our town has not been without 
representatives in its country's battles : — some returned to 
its hospitable homes and some have left but an empty 
chair to chronicle their deeds of valor and sacrifice. 

In other pursuits its sons and daughters have scattered 
far and wide in every vocation in life, and upon the soil ot 
India, Siam, China, Japan and Africa, yea, almost in every 
country of the inhabited globe, some of our people have 
set up their household gods, and their childrens' children 
trace back their genealogy to old Canonsburg. 

What manner of men they were, these old worthies of 
our town and vicinity, how they lived and worked, joyed 
and sorrowed, and at last were laid to rest beneath the 
white head stones that dot the hillside of the fertile valley, 
have they not been chronicled in the history of Western 
Pennsylvania both religious and educational, time and 



Introductory 



again? But of the municipal history of the town but Httle 
had been written ; to recount that history, to chronicle the 
first century of urban life and properly celebrate our loo 
years of incorporated existence, as well as to render fitting- 
tribute to the sturdy men and women of this outpost of 
civilization, — this watch tower of learning, both sacred 
and profane, — it became our sacred duty to furnish an op- 
portunity to recount the past and tell of its mighty men. In 
very truth no feeble folk were they : and lest we forget our 
heritage of sacrifice and suffering, it becomes us to stop in 
the hurry for wealth, to forget for the time railroads, trolley 
cars and lot sales, oil, gas, and coal, iron, steel and tin 
and go back to the time when men lived out of doors and 
on top of the ground, not in and under it, as we do now. 



The Inception of the Idea 

When it began to dawn on the good people of Canons- 
burg that their town had almost completed a century of 
existence, that on February 22nd, 1902, we had completed 
one hundred years of incorporated life as a borough, it be 
came evident that some recognition should be taken ot 
that fact, and that it should not go unchronicled, the fol- 
lowing pages were written, to give to those who love the 
memory of the old town the words of praise and kindly 
remembrance spoken at its Centenary Celebration. 

The city fathers of long ago had shown their usual dis- 
regard of weather when they incorporated the town at 
such a time, as February, but to Canonsburgers the 22nd 
has greater interest than even the birth of Washington, its 
own birthday being the same. That some official recogni- 
tion should be made of the event was so generally con- 
ceded that a meeting of the citizens was called in the 
borough building early in January, 1902. This meeting 
was largely attended and much discussion resulted, indeed 



Canonsburg Centennial 



SO various were the suggestions and so animated did the 
discussion become, that a committee of six was appointed 
to formulate a plan for the celebration, which should as far 
as possible, coincide with the ideas expressed in the citi- 
zens committee. This committee was accordingly appoint- 
ed and on January 13th, 1902, it met in the office of 
T. M. Potts there being present Mr. Potts, Wm. H. Pax- 
ton, Joseph B. Donaldson, David Hart, Samuel Munnell, 
Sr., John L. McClelland and W. L. McCloy. On January 
31st this committee made its report to the Central Com- 
mittee. At the previous meetings of the Committee Capt. 
David Hart, the Burgess of the Town had acted as chair- 
man of the meeting' ex officio. On February loth, 1902, 
the executive committee, after being called to order by 
the chairman proceeded to a permanent organization by 
electing Wm. B. Chambers^ Chairman, Thomas Maxwell 
Potts, vice-chairman, John L. McClelland, Secretary and 
W. J. Gowern, Treasurer. The chairmen of the numerous 
sub-committees were appointed as recited in the report 
of W. B. Chambers to the meeting of Council, who chose 
their assistants as there enumerated. 

As a result of this recommendation of the committee, 
the Borough Council, by resolution called an open meeting 
of the Council, to be held in the Opera House on Saturday^ 
February 22nd, 1902, at one o'clock p. m.^ for the purpose 
of giving official sanction to the Centennial Celebration, 
and invited the public to meet with it at that time and be 
present to endorse the action of Cotmcil in taking under 
its official wing the laudable object of the committee, viz., 
to properly celebrate the ending of our century of exist- 
ence and officially launch us into the large celebration 
which was to follow ; to make the occurrence of the day a 
part of the official record of theBorough, to perpetuate the 
present and known history of the town and rescue from 
oblivion what had been learned of our fast vanishing past. 



Introductory 



The meeting was accordingly held and well attended. After 
the Canonsburg Orchestra had played several selections 
to the great enjoyment of the audience, Capt. David Hart 
called the meeting to order. Present David Hart chair- 
man, A. D. Anderson, T. M. Reese and W. A. Mathews. 

Proceedings of the Meeting of Feb. 22, 1902 
Held in Morgan's Opera House. 

The chairman called for the reading of the minutes of 
the previous meeting, which on motion of Anderson, was 
dispensed with. The chairman then called for remarks 
from any one authorized to state the purpose of the meet- 
ing, whereupon W. B. Chambers advancing addressed 
council as follows : 

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Town Council of the 
Borough of Canonsburg : 

Gentlemen: — I wish to bring before your Honorable 
Body at the time a matter of public importance, one that 
relates to the public good and interest of our Borough, and 
one that I trust will call for favorable action on your part 
officially. In the way of a pubhc celebration of the looth 
anniversary of our Borough. 

Gentlemen : — At a public meeting of our citizens, held 
in the month of January, 1902, it was the sentiment of that 
meeting that a public celebration of our lOOth anniversary 
should be held. A Committee composed of the following 
well known citizens — viz : T. M. Potts, J. L. McClelland, 
David Hart, Samuel Munnell, Sr., W. H. Paxton and W. 
L. McCloy, submitted the following recommendations, to 
an adjourned meeting held on January 31st, 1902; which 
report was received and accepted. This Committee recom- 
mended : 



Canonsburg Centennial 



1st, That the Burgess and Town Council be request- 
ed to take official action, so that a proper minute may be 
made and entered upon the records of the Borough as a 
matter of History. That they are requested to call a 
meeting of the citizens to be held in some suitable place 
on Saturday February 22nd, 1902, at one o'clock P. M.^ 
when a preliminary celebration may be had, in the way of 
a few short addresses, and the adoption of an outline for 
a more elaborate celebration at a future date to be deter- 
mined. 

2nd. That a Central Committee of twenty-five or more 
Citizens be appointed who shall have charge and control 
of all matters pertaining to the celebration. That this 
Central Committee shall organize as soon as possible by 
electing a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer 
and such other officers as they may deem or find necessary 
from time to time. This Committee shall appoint all sub- 
committees for attending to special details, and that these 
sub-committees shall from time to time report to the Cen- 
tral Committee as necessity may require. That the Cen- 
tral Committee and all other committees shall keep a min- 
ute of all their proceedings, so that the whole may be pre- 
served as a matter of historical interest. 

3rd. That the following named persons shall consti- 
tute the Central Committee of twenty-five or more — David 
Hart, R. Fred Douds, Wesley Greer, John L. Cockins, S. 
Blaine Ewing, Samuel Munnell, Sr., T. M. Potts, J. V. H. 
Cook, Ralph Martin, William B. Chambers, John L. Mc- 
Clelland, Joseph B. Donaldson, John C. Morgan, J. Brad- 
ford Johnston, William H. Paxton, William J. Gowern, S. 
C. Smith, Dr. John B. Donaldson, Dr. S. A. Lacock, 
George D. McNutt, Stewart McPeake, W. L. McCloy, D. 
H. Fee, Joseph G. Charlton, George Briceland, Samuel 
McWilliams. In pursuance, therefore, to the recommen- 
dation of the committee, this Central Committee, T have 



Introductory 



just read^ convened in the Town Hall on February loth, 
1902, and was called to order by David Hart, Esq. The 
following permanent organization took place by unanimous 
consent : Wm. B. Chambers, Chairman, T. M. Potts, Vice 
Chairman, J, L. McClelland, Secretary and W. J. Gowern 
Treasurer ; whereupon the following members were named 
as Chairmen of Sub-Committees : Joseph B. Donaldson, 
Finance. Dr. John B. Donaldson, Speakers. David Hart, 
Music. J. V. H. Cook, Grounds and Military Record. 
Dr. S. A. Lacock, Date of Celebration. John L. Cockin, 
Privileges. S. Blaine Ewing, Historical Events and Canon 
Descendents. W. H. Paxon, Parade. S, Clark Smith, Med- 
als and Badges. Wesley Greer, Programme. J. C. Mor- 
gan, Press. Stewart McPeake, Fire Works, etc. Samuel 
Munnell, Sr., Transportation. Samuel McWilliams, Invita- 
tions. 

The Committee on date of celebration have named 
Thursday, June 26th, 1902. It is our purpose to carry out 
on that day a celebration, one that will bring to our town 
thousands and thousands of visitors. We expect to have 
with us, the Governor of our State and other State officials. 
Distinguished men, Senators and Congressmen, Judges of 
our Courts, Representatives of the different Arts, Trades, 
Manufacturies, Industries and Business Houses of our 
town, each appropriately decorated and festooned in an ar- 
tistic way, the whole making an attraction that will be well 
worth coming miles to see. We say to you. Gentlemen, 
you will see on your streets that day more people than 
were ever in the confines of our Borough. We want to 
make it a gala day, a Joyous occasion, and one to be re- 
membered with pleasure by all present. 

And now. Gentlemen, having shown to you, that we are 
a duly and regularly organized body of your citizens, or- 
ganized in the interest, and working as we trust, for the 
future welfare and to advance the interests of our town by 



Canonsburg Centennial 



a public Celebration, we would request that you would take 
such official action at this time, as would authorize us in 
the name of the Borough, to carry out such a public Cele- 
bration of our one hundredth anniversary on June 26th, as 
will be a credit to the Borough which you so ably repre- 
sent, to the people of the same, and to the Central Com- 
mittee and their assisants in whose behalf I make this re- 
quest. 

Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention, and the in- 
terest you have already shown in the coming event, in the 
splendid preliminary meeting, you are about to favor us 
with, and I respectfully ask a favorable consideration at 
this time. 

The adoption of this resolution presented by Mr. 
Chambers, was moved by Reese, seconded by Anderson, 
and was adopted by Council. 

Rev. W. B. Smiley, D. D., being called on responded as 
follows : 

Mr. Chairman, Members of Council, Ladies and Gentle- 
men : — -It is somewhat difficult for those whose conceptions 
of social life are fashioned to a good degree by the condi- 
tions that prevail in these first years of the 2Gth century, 
to fully realize what it meant to found a town a hundred 
years ago. When we look around us and see towns not 
more than 5 or may be 10 years old that are larger, and 
possessed of greater industrial interests than our own, now 
about to enter upon the second century of its existence, 
there may be some disposition to ask ourselves the ques- 
tion, or at least for some of our neighbors over on the 
river to ask us, what have you done in all these years to 
be worthy of such a great celebration? But taking the pre- 
vailing conditions into account, I think I am safely within 
the bounds of truth when I say that Canonsburg during 



Address of W. B. Smiley 



the first half of the last century, exercised a greater influ- 
ence, with her few hundred of citizens, than do the mush- 
room towns of the present day with their thousands of a 
population. You cannot always determine the value of a 
thing by its size or the rapidity of its growth. Boasting 
of more physical proportions reminds one of what Alexan- 
der Stevens once said to the council opposing him in a case 
in court^ who was somewhat inclined to help along a bad 
cause by berating his opponent and reflecting upon his di- 
minutive stature. "Why_, sir", said he to Mr. Stevens, "I 
could swallow a man like you". "If you did", was the 
quick reply, "you would have more brains in your stomach 
than you ever had in your head". It is brain rather than 
brawn, quality rather than quantity, personality rather 
than proportions that counts in the make up of a town, as 
well as of an individual ; and whilst we would not wish to 
intimate that these modern towns that are meeting with 
such rapid growth, are altogether lacking in these better 
elements, yet I give myself credit for perfect candor and 
sincerity when I say that few communities have been more 
richly blessed with a predominance of all the better qual- 
ities that go to make up the highest type of society, than 
this old town of Canonsburg during all these years of her 
existence. A leading thinker of the present day and a close 
student of human nature, has often said to me, "there is a 
marrow about the native stock of that community, which is 
rarely found elsewhere". 

Now this is not said that we may pufif ourselves up with 
pride, but that we may do honor to the generations gone, 
and that the younger ones may know something of the 
quality of the material that was built into the foundation of 
our community, which accounts in great measure for its 
substantial character at the present time. To start a town 
a hundred years ago was a different matter from what it is 
now. With the conditions that prevail at present, a dense 



Canonsburg Centennial 



population already in existence, and multitudes coming in 
upon us every day from foreign shores, it would be a more 
difficult thing to discover how not to have a town, than 
how to build one. 

But very different were the conditions when our grand- 
fathers laid out and incorporated this town. At that time 
Pittsburg was not deserving of the dignity of being called 
a town. All this region around about us was then a forest. 
And to make a town certainly a few people are a necessity. 
Just how many signed the petition for this corporation, I 
am not informed, but probably enough to provide candi- 
dates for all the offices, and possibly not a sufficient num- 
ber over and above this to make a respectable remon- 
strance, else it is probable that like our neighboring bor- 
ough of Houston, it would have had considerable history 
before it became a town at all. But it is enough for us to 
know that there were enough progressive citizens in this 
region to establish an organized borough lOo years ago, 
else the occasion of this speech this afternoon would not 
have been furnished us, and our town would have been just 
like any other common ordinary place, instead of the digni- 
fied, honored and prosperous community that it is, with a 
hundred years of history behind it, every one of which re- 
cords the doings of noble and worthy men, the fathers and 
grandfathers of those who are here to-day. The town was 
called Canonsburg^ and sometimes by our neighbors. Gun- 
town, possibly for the purpose of frightening the Indians, 
who filled the woods that surrounded it. But seriously the 
name Canonsburg stands for something, wherever we may 
go, that is more useful and honorable and influential than 
warfare, and gunpowder. Whatever our community may 
become in the future, you can never separate from her past 
history, the thought of education and culture, and religious 
life and character. For years she had no peers west of 
the mountains as a religfious and educational center from 



lo Address of W. B. Smiley 



which went forth streams to make glad this Western Con- 
tinent. The type of character developed here during the 
middle half of the last century had in it elements of worth 
the equal of any thing ever produced in the fertile soil of 
this new world. And it is no mean responsibility that is 
laid upon us in receiving such a blessing from the genera- 
tions that have gone before us in the community. And in 
the changing character of the contributing elements by 
which the town's existence is maintained and continued, we 
should seek to guard sacredly the honor that has been 
clinging, through all these years, to the name by which 
we are known. It may have a new element added 
to its meaning by the time another generation has come 
into being by reason of the increased smoke that shall arise 
from the busy hive of its material industry ; and we shall be 
disappointed if it does not come to be a center of great 
material prosperity. But in order to this, let us not feel 
that it is necessary to cut loose from the moorings of the 
past. Mills were never intended to take the place of Col- 
leges, nor to lessen the necessity for their existence. And 
churches will never be more needed and their teachings 
never more helpful than in the day of our greatest pros- 
perity. In our haste to be rich and great^ let us resolve to 
maintain our integrity and honor, and with these founda- 
tion stones underneath, there is nothing to be feared for 
the safety of the structure, no matter how fast we may en- 
large it. 




Address of Blaine Ewing 

Read at the open meeting of Council on February 22, 1902. 

A brief sketch of our Founder, John Canon, 

and his town in its infancy. 



iRANCIS PARKMAN, writing of the 
County west of the Alleghenies, in 1760^ 
says, "One vast and continuous forest 
shadowed the fertile soil, covering the 
lands as the grass covers a garden lawn, 
sweeping over hill and hollow in endless 
undulation, burying mountains in ver- 
dure and mantling brooks and rivers from the light of day. 
Here and there in some rich meadow, opened to the sun, 
the Indian squaw turned the black mould with their rude in- 
struments of bone and iron, and sowed their scanty store 
of maize and beans". 

Although our County was not the permanent abiding 
place of any Indian tribes, when the white man had set up 
his cabin here,, he was liable to have a visit, none too wel- 
come, from his red brother. 

Into this wilderness the pioneer, John Canon, forced 
his way. The first mark of civilization was usually a mill 
in which to grind the grain for his frugal existence. Around 
a mill a few houses were gradually collected, and such was 
Canonsburg in the early history. Located along an old 
Indian trail, which wended its crooked way directly up the 
hill, gradually a few cabins collected, and the squatter be- 
came lord of the soil. 

Westmoreland County was erected on the 26th of 
February, 1771, and at the January Sessions of '74, John 
Canon was one of the viewers "to view a road to begin at 
Thomas Guess' (Gists) from thence to Paul Fronian's Mill 



Address of Blaine Ewing 



on Chartiers Creek." The last named mill being at the 
present site of the Town of Linden, North Strabane Town- 
ship. 

At this time the most westward county of Virginia was 
Augusta County, with its County Seat at Staunton in the 
Shenandoah Valley. On a claim based on the Charter of 
the London Company, the western boundery of the County 
was only fixed by the limits of settlements in the North- 
western boundary. 

Lord Dunmore claimed jurisdiction over this section of 
country, and adjourned Court from Staunton to Fort Dun- 
more, at Pittsburgh. He then issued new commissions of 
the peace, and among the names of the justices of the 
peace issued by Dunmore in 1774, John Canon's name ap- 
peared. 

On this very day, one hundred and twenty-seven years 
ago, he took the oath of adjuration and allegiance to his 
Brittanic Majesty as a justice of Dunmore's Court, on the 
present site of Pittsburgh, and regularly thereafter sat in 
its deliberations. 

He seems to have been tenacious of authority, and a 
supporter of his allegiance, for he sat in judgment on 
Thomas Scott an adherent of Pennsylvania jurisdiction, 
who afterwards became the first Prothonotary of Wash- 
ington County. 

It was as difficult a matter then, as now, to serve two 
masters, and to the trials of the frontier, and incursions of 
the Indians, was added the rival claims of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania jurisdictions. 

When, however, the boundery controversy was settled, 
and Virginia Courts had ceased to exist, we find him as 
one of the first representatives from Washington County 
to the Supreme Executive Council at Philadelphia. 

The organization of Washington County from a part 
of Westmoreland County, occurred on the 28th of March. 



Canonsburg Centennial i$ 



1781, and four days later, the Supreme Executive Council 
of Pennsylvania appointed David Leet and John Canon 
sub-lieutenants of said County. 

The first election in the new County for representatives 
to the Supreme Executive Council resulted in the election 
of Hon. James Edgar and John Canon, the returns of 
which election were read in Council at Philadelphia, No- 
vember 30th, 1 781. He was active in the defense of the 
frontier as shown by the following minute of the Council : 

December 29th, 1781. "On consideration of the pro- 
posals made by John Canon, Esq., for supplying the Militia 
and Rangers of the County of Washington, which may be 
employed for the defense of the frontiers of said County. 

Ordered, that twelve pence per ration in specie, be al- 
lowed for the rations delivered at such places as the said 
troops may from time to time be stationed, within said 
County of Washington. The rations to consist of one 
pound of beef, or three-fourths pound of pork : one gill of 
whiskey per day, and one quart of salt and two quarts of 
vinegar per hundred rations." 

And to show that Col. Canon was actually engaged in 
supplying the troops with subsistence, we see a note of the 
fact that on April 17th, 1782, "an order was drawn on the 
Treasurer in favor of John Canon, Esq., for the sum of one 
hundred pounds specie, in part of contract for supplying 
the troops stationed in the County of Washington with 
provision." 

And on February 15th, 1783, "An order was drawn on 
the Treasurer in favor of Col. John Canon for ninety-five 
pounds, six shillings, balance of his account for rations 
furnished to the Militia and Rangers in Washington 
County from February 1782 to February 1783." 

On November 20th of the next year, we see another 
voucher drawn on the Treasurer, in favor of Col, Canon 



14 Address of Blaine Ewing 



for rations furnished the Rangers and Militia in Washing- 
ton County, up to and including August, 1783. . 

On October 6th, 1784, in pursuance of an election in this 
region, he was commissioned with Matthew Ritchie, one of 
the Justices of Court of Common Pleas for Washington 
County. 

He was again called to sit in the Councils of this State 
as we see by a minute dated December ist, 1789. 

"An order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of John 
Cannon, Esq., for fifty-three pounds, ten shilings, for his 
attendance in Council from the 7th to the nth of February, 
and from the loth of August until the 2nd of October, 
1789, and his mileage coming to Philadelphia and return- 
ing to Washington County." 

A still earlier mention of Canon appears in the records 
of Youghiogheny County, in reference to the "public salt" 
which sold for the price of six pounds, ten shillings per 
bushel, by order of Court one year before. This enormous 
price will serve to illustrate the difficulties under which 
the people west of the Alleghenies labored for means of 
transportation. "On September 29th, 1779, the Court or- 
dered that Col. John Canon have the public salt which now 
lies at Alexandria, brought up to this (Youghiogheny) 
County and distribute it to the persons entitled to receive 
it, and that he be authorized to contract for the carriage 
on such terms as he can, taking care in the distribution to 
fix the price so as to raise the money due thereon for the 
original cost." 

But our hero was not perfect. While it can be, and 
lias been successfully shown by others that he was not im- 
plicated in the expedition against the Moravian Indians, 
when popular excitement ran high, and the whole people 
were embroiled over the whiskey insurrection, John 
Canon's name led the list in the call for Militia to meet at 



r 




> 



Saa^Milii— aaw 




Canonsburg Centennial I5 



Braddock's Field in July, '94. In which call the admission 
was made that the letters taken from the mails were in the 
possession of the Committee. 

That he was present at Henry Westbay's Tavern (the 
old Black Horse Tavern) when the mail bag containing let- 
ters from this section to the authorities at Philadelphia, 
was opened, seems to be conclusively proved, being invited 
in by the others more deeply implicated, to embroil as 
many as possible, in the general catastrophe. That he was 
not visited with severe punishment is attributed to the in- 
tervention of Washington, whose attorney in fact, he was, 
having charge of the renting of his farms in the "Wash- 
ington Tract" in Mt. Pleasant Township. 

At such a time it would have been suicidal to afifect in- 
difference, and I doubt if he even felt it. A Scotchman 
by birth and bred for generations to hate an exciseman, he 
was, on principal, opposed to the government's usurpation 
of power, as it was then generally called, as we saw how 
hard the excise legislation was on his friends and neigh- 
bors. Distilling of liquor was practiced everywhere, and was 
the only means of earning money for this section, cut off 
from communication from the rest of the world by moun- 
tains that were almost im.passible. The Ohio river was 
in the control of the French, and afforded no exit for our 
commerce. 

After a lapse of over one hundred years, it would be 
strange if we could not see som.e faults in any man, but 
these arose more from quick sympathies and a hasty tem- 
per than from lack of good judgment. 

He was the firm friend of education in the broad sense. 
When proposals for the donation of a lot for an academy, 
were rejected by the founder of Washington, Col. Canon, 
in 1 79 1, not only gave the lot, but advanced the money to 



i6 Address of Blaine Ewing 



build the stone college which stood where the West Ward 
public school now stands. 

At a time when deeds were carelessly written as a rule, 
and any memorandum of sale was considered sufficient. 
John Canon's deeds are models of good conveyancing and 
full recitals. Many an attorney in looking over the records 
has had cause to bless him for reciting tuUy and accurate- 
ly, the entire history or reason which led up to the con- 
veyance. 

Judged by the estimation in which he was held by his 
contemporaries^ by his public service, and the offices he 
held, he stood the full test of good citizenship. 

John Canon's death occurred in 1798 when but little 
past the meridian of life just before the Academy he had 
helped to found, became Jefferson College. He left a 
widow, Janet, and four sons, John^ Samuel, William and 
Joshua and three daughters, Jean, Anne and Margaret. He 
is described as an active, intelligent and gentlemanly man 
and from what has preceded, he certainly led a strenuous 
life, full of action and excitement, and dignified by gener- 
ous service rendered to his country, the cause of educa- 
tion and religion. General Washington himself says of 
him in his diary September^ 1784, "I lodged at a Col. Can- 
on^s on the waters of Shurtees Creek ; a kind, hospitable 
man ; and sensible." 



But turning our attention from the founder of the town 
to the town itself we find that according to the best records 
obtainable, Canonsburg was laid out on the 15th of April, 
1788, and later, on February 22nd, 1802, erected into a 
Borough by act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and is 
the oldest borough in the County of Washington. 

The Act of incorporation is too long to read here, but 
it directed the citizens v/ho had resided within the Borough 
for six months, last preceeding the election, to meet in 
one of the rooms of the College in the Borough, on the 




"• 2 

Ti 55 

1 C/5 



Canonsburg Centennial 17 



first Mondav of May in each year, between the hours of 12 
and 6 o'clock in the evening, and elect by ballot one re- 
spectable citizen, residing therein, as Burgess, and five re- 
spectable citizens to be a Town Council. 

Among the duties of Council as prescribed in the Act 
is to "appoint a town clerk and other officers as may be 
necessary to regulate the digging and gathering coal in the 
coal banks adjacent to said town, by the inhabitants there- 
of, in such manner, that the private rights of individuals be 
not impaired or injured, and manage the affairs of the coal 
banks so far as the rights of the inhabitants of said Bor- 
ough extends to the same." 

An election was accordingly held on the third of May, 
1802, which resulted in the election of Samuel Murdoch as 
Burgess ; and 

William Clarke, Thomas Briceland, 

William White, John Johnston 

and John Watson, Esq., as Council; John McGill was 
elected high constable. 

Samuel Murdoch, Esq., was elected (by Council) over- 
seer of the streets, lanes, alleys and roads within the Bor- 
ough : William Clarke, Treasurer : Thomas Briceland and 
William White to regulate partition walls and fences : An- 
drew Munroe (Nailor), Clerk of Market.* 

Borough of Canonsburg, May 26, 1802, the Town 
Council met ; all present. 

I St. Resolved that David Wilson & Wm. Hartupee be 
and they are hereby appointed Overseers of the poor. 

2nd. That Thomas Briceland, William White & John 
Johnston be managers of the Coal Bank. 

3rd. Resolved that all Officers of the Borough ap- 
pointed by Council be sworn duly to execute their respec- 
tive offices. 

The first act of this Council was as follows : "Resolved 
that the High Constable shall forthwith take a return of all 

* This name should be spelled Munro. 



i8 Address of Blaine Ewing 



taxable property within the Borough of Canonsburg, which 
property shall be all in and out lots, cows and horses above 
three years old," and the next. "Resolved that from and 
after three weeks from the publication of this act, all Hogs, 
shoats and pigs running at large within the bounds of said 
borough, without yokes and rings, upon complaint shall 
become a forfeiture to said Borough", which is closely fol- 
lowed by a note in the margin. "Hog law repealed." 

"Resolved that all Tavern Keepers, Cyder and Beer 
Houses shall have their doors shut by ten o'clock (Tavern 
keepers for the reception of Travellers only excepted."") 

On May iith^ 1802, the members of Council voted 
themselves "forty cents per day for their services," but in 
the following April they repealed the ordinance, doubtless 
under pressure. And also voted to sit with closed doors, 
the clerk being authorized to receive and present all peti- 
tions. 

The first tax duplicate shows 87 names and at one cent 
on the dollar (which was the limit allowed by the charter) 
the tax amounted to $122.53. 

In June, 1802, it was enacted "That for the better se- 
curing the peace and happiness of said Borough of Canons- 
burg, that a pair of stocks be made and placed near the 
Market House, to confine offenders in, whose crimes may 
not merit greater punishment. And the Burgess is hereby 
directed to carry the above resolution into effect without 
delay, and is authorized to draw his bill upon the Treasurer 
for the amount of expense, which may have been incurred 
in so doing." 

"Whereas, persons frequently come to the Borough 
under the characters of Mounte-banks, stage-players and 
exhibitions of Puppet-shows. Therefore, be it enacted by 
the Town Council that if such Alounte-banks, play actors 
or managers of a Puppet-show shall exhibit in their profes- 
sion for money, within the said Borough, that such per- 



Canonsburg Centennial 19 



sons shall be fined in the sum of fifty dollars with cost of 
suit." Passed June 25, 1802. No prohibition, however, was 
enacted against a free show. 

The tender solicitude of the city Fathers was also man- 
ifested for the old Market House. "Be it enacted &c. that 
the superintending and care of the Market House devolve 
particularly upon the clerk of the Market, who is, hereby, 
directed to take care that no injury shall be done to it, 
either by boys swinging upon the gates, breaking the roof 
with stones, or hurting in any manner, or by any person 
bringing a nuisance into it, such as horses, cows, sheep, 
hogs, &s. ; and if any person shall so offend the Clerk, if he 
sees proper may apply to the Burgess, who shall issue his 
warrant to apprehend such offender, and upon conviction 
punish him or her by fine, (or imprisonment in the stocks) 
according to the nature of the offense." The words in 
parenthesis have a pen line drawn through them. This 
was evidently aimed at the pranks of the students of 1802. 

In 1804, the market days were fixed on Tuesdays and 
Saturdays, and "no meat, butter, fruit, vegetables, or other 
articles" were to be offered for sale at any other place than 
at the market before 10 o'clock A. M., on pain of forfeiture 
to any person who chose to take them, and no butcher 
was allowed to sell any meat on any other day in the week 
than market days, unles he would notify every family in 
the Borough of the fact. The reason of this enactment 
does not appear, unless it was to prevent the early birds 
from intercepting the people on their way to market, and 
buying the best to be had. 

April 6, 1808 "Resolved that every person residing 
within the Borough shall be entitled to receive coal from 
the Bank known by the name of Laughlins'' Bank." 

This enactment seems to be a breach of the conditions 
of sale, contained in Canon's deeds, wherein some such 
wording as this is used, varying in different deeds. "With 



Address of Blaine Ewing 



the privilege of the Coal Bank South of the Dam forever, 
to take as much Coal therefrom, as will be suflficient firing, 
for the houses now built, or that may be hereafter built, 
upon the hereby granted lot of ground ; provided the said 
Abraham Singhorse, his heirs and assigns do not injure 
the works of the Dam." 

See Deed John Canon to Abraham Singhorse, April 9, 
1795. Deed Book O. 519. 

Just when this valuable right was lost the minutes do 
not disclose, but it evidently continued for many years 
and the question was finally submitted to Thomas McGif- 
fin, Esq., but his decision was not recorded. 

In the statement of Borough expenses for 1805 this 
item occurs, "By Thompson & Weavers bill for building 
bridge at creek $65.00." I presume this was at the foot 
of what was then Main Street, now Central Avenue. 

June 6, 1808, Manasha Miles, by his son Richard hired 
stall and Block No. i for which he is to pay $1.5,0 per An. 
(i. e. a stall in the Old Market House.) 

After much conversation on different proposals the fol- 
lowing was passed. "That every member of Council who 
does not attend at the places of meeting, due notice being 
given, within 15 minutes shall be find fifty cents." This is 
the way they secured a quorum in 1808. 

"Feb. 14, 1810. Resolved that a beam sufficient to 
draw 150 lbs. and small weights be purchased for the use 
of the Market-house, for the use of said Borough." And 
in the same year an ordinance was passed that "All meat 
or any other article brought to the market house for sale, 
shall be weighed by the public scales only. Any person 
or persons found weighing any article or articles with 
steel-yard, or any other way but the above mentioned, for 
each offense, shall pay one dollar to be recovered by the 
Burgess, one half to the use of the informer, the other 
half for the use of the Borough." 



Canonsburg Centennial 



In the year 1810, 5 mills tax were levied, June 19; Sep- 
tember 20th an additional |- per cent amounting to $195. 
97^ was levied. 

"Whereas, application was made by a number of the in- 
habitants of the Borough stating that two or three feet off 
the side of Water Street was wanted to make the scite of 
the school house more commodious, therefore, Resolved by 
the authority of the Town Council, that forty feet in length 
and three feet in breadth, off the South side of Water 
Street, any where opposite Alex. Murdock, Esq., lots on 
said street, be granted in perpetuity to Craig Ritchie, Esq., 
John Watson, Esq., and Doctor Samuel Murdock and other 
subscribers and their successors^ to a paper containing 
articles of association for building and maintaining a school 

house in the Borough of Canonsburg, dated the day 

of August, 1816. Done in Council the 2nd day of July, 
1816." 

"May 6, 1820, Resolved that a special meeting of Coun- 
cil be held at Joshua Emery's Friday at 5 o'clock to hear 
Rev. Mr. Gibson on certain charges alledged against Mary 
Abbel as a nuisance." 

Friday, xA.ugust 25, 1820, By an unanimous vote $50 of 
the taxes of 1820 "and one hundred dollars of the taxes to 
be collected off the Borough in 1821 shall be appropriated 
to Joshua Emery and Geo. McCook expressly for to defray 
in part the expenses incurred in making a part of the road 
lately made from the site of the old Market House towards 
the land of the heirs of Saml. Thompson, dec, which road 
is a street as far as the Borough line extends.'' (i. e. West 
College street.) "Moved that the old Market House be 
taken down and that a site be fixed upon for building a 
new one, and that the supervisor give notice to the citizens 
to meet at the Market House on Saturday 26th inst. to 
have their voice^ as respects the contemplated one." 



Address of Blaine Ewing 



May 1 6, 1821. Inquiry having been made for some 
things formaly kept in the Market House, John Sample 
and George McFarlane report that the scales, plough and 
timber of the old Market House, are in the possession of 
Andrew Munroe. 

In February, 1822, it appears that numerous attempts 
had been made to burn different houses in the town, and 
that the citizens, for their own safety, had formed the in- 
habitants into a company of patrol, divided into classes of 
four each, to patrol the town during the night. The 
Council confirmed the Act of the Committee of 
Safety and fined any male taxable citizen two dollars, who 
refused to serve as patrol, when the turn of his class came. 

In May of 1825, the question of bringing the streets to 
grade was first taken up, and the contract let to Andrew 
Van Eman to grade Main street between the turnpike and 
the Borough line at the Mill. This was done after a public 
meeting held at the Post Office, in which the cost was lim- 
ited to one cent on the dollar of valuation. 

In May, 1827, a resolution of Council was passed grant- 
ing a strip of land, in perpetuity, between the houses of 
Hector McFadden and Andrew Munro, 25 by 45 feet, to 
the persons who subscribed to the erection of the new 
market house, the upper end to be 20 feet below the house 
of Hector McFadden, and imposing new regulations for 
the care of the market, and adding that no meat be sold 
at any other time than market days, and not before five 
o'clock A. M. It also admonished the butcher who left the 
Market last, to put the scales and weights away in the 
place appointed for their safe keeping. 

Hector McFadden lived in the house on the south-east 
corner of College street and Central avenue, long occupied 
by Mrs. Ferguson, and Andrew Munro was the step-father 




HECTOR McFADDEX'S HOTEL 
From a photcc;raph by F. C. Dunlk\y 



Canonsburg Centennial 23 



of John E. Black, who succeeded him as postmaster, and 
lived on the south-west corner of the same streets. There 
were two Andrew Monros. 

Andrew Monro (Nailor) above mentioned, and Andrew 
Munroe who spelled his name with the addition of the "e", 
who kept a Tavern which stood on the lot lately owned 
by William Campbell, dec, nearly opposite the college. 

One peculiarity in the tax assessments appears to be 
that there was no uniformity about the value of a trade or 
profession. I will cite a few instances : 

Rev. Dr. Brown's profession is valued at $800.00 

Dr. Stevenson's profession is valued at 150.00 

Dr. Leatherman's profession is valued at 300.00 

James McClelland, Trade 150.00 

Joshua Emery, Tavern 150.00 

John H. Martin, Trade 125.00 

Craig Ritchie, Store 200.00 

John Watson, Office Justice of Peace 200.00 

John Watson, Trade 150.00 

Boyd Emery, Student 50.00 

In March, 1830, the question of grading and laying 
side-walks and water courses was first taken up, and in 
the same year a seal was procured for the Borough. 

On August 7th, 1833, parts of Green and Market 
streets were stoned. Now called Greenside and Central 
avenues. 

"August 27, 1836. On motion resolved that Joseph 
Parkinson gets the coal bank until the first of April at one 
dollar and seventy-five cents per hundred bushels and re- 
pair the bridge at his own expense." _, 

"Dec. 4, 1837. Resolved, That Hugh Ballentine have 
the privilege of charging 2| cents in place of two cents 
until wages fall : and when they fall the price of coal is to 
fall accordingly.-" 



24 Address of Blaine Ewing 



After several years discussion, a fire engine was pro- 
cured in 1840, and a fire company formed to supply the 
"Hibernia Fire Engine" with water in case of fire, and on 
all days of training with the engine. 

But the citizens seem to have wearied quickly of pump- 
ing and carrying water to be squirted at nothing in par- 
ticular, when this fire engine was "exercised" ; and judging 
from the number and stringency of the resolutions passed 
to bring them to a realization of their deficiencies, their 
weariness increased year by year. 

In June, 1843, the Council circulated a paper to take 
the signatures of the citizens for, and against, the purchase 
of the lot on which the old stone college stood, for a public 
school; and on March 12th, 1844, the building of said 
Town House or Town Hall as it was commonly called, was 
let to Andrew H. Griffin for $1,050.00. 

The old books of the Borough of Canonsburg do not 
contain much of interest to the resident of to-day, unless 
his ancestors have resided here ; but to one interested in 
the history of the old inhabitants they are full of informa- 
tion. The assesment lists for over fifty years contain the 
names of every person who had any occupation or who 
paid tax, and in these lists you will find many of the pioneer 
residents of the county. 

One name struck me as occurring in the records with 
regularity each year, for the first fifty years of the Bor- 
ough's existence, and it still occurs, viz : — that of Reynolds 
C. Neil. 

There is much more of interest, to those who hke to 
delve into the past, contained in the books of the Borough, 
than is here recited ; but time forbids to continue. It 
is history by suggestion rather than by recital. You 
must let your imagination picture the scene from these 
brief suggestions. In this short sketch, I have merely 



Canonsburg Centennial 25 



quoted from the books at hand, and indicated the occur- 
rences which called for mention either by ordinance of the 
Borough Council, or such brief mention of John Canon as 
occurred in the records of the County and Executive Coun- 
cil of Pennsylvania ; preferring to be sure of my ground 
and quote from the originals verbatim, rather than to rely 
on local tradition. 



^ 




Address of David H. Fee 

|HE "Notes Alan" had predicted the Cen- 
tennial Celebration as early as December 
3rd^ 1901, and since that time spent his 
days in writing articles to boom the 
idea. At night, from his beautiful home 
on the very summit of Sheep-hill he 
scanned the heavens for portents, and 

finding no baleful stars in conjunction, cast the horoscope 

of the future Canonsburg as follows : 

Mr. Chairman, and Fellow Citizens : 

We stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks 
one hundred years of incorporated community life ; a cen- 
tury filled with struggles, but Crowned with triumphs of 
which we have a right to be proud. 

From a few straggling log huts on two mud roads, 
which the "City Fathers" of 1802, strove to dignify by the 
name of "streets", we have come to be in 1902, a prosper- 
ous little city of nearly 5,000 inhabitants. The log huts 
of the pioneers long since gave way to more commodious 
and ornate structures, and these are in their turn being re~ 
placed by residences of a still more artistic and costly 
style of architecture. Our streets have increased in num- 
ber and length, and while we can not boast of their good 
condition, we can and do "live in hopes" that once the 
Town Council gets through with the questions connected 
with a water supply and a system of sewers, they will man- 
fully and courageously tackle the street-paving question. 

Wonderful has been the progress of Western Pennsyl- 
vania during the century closing with to-day. At its be- 



Canonsburg Centennial 27 



ginning, Pittsburg was but a straggling country town. 
David Hamilton, great grandfather to the speaker, who 
settled on "The Rich Hills", in North Strabane township 
in 1780 and who lived there sixty years, dying in 1840, at 
the age of 90, used to say that he remembered Pittsburg 
when it was not larger than Canonsburg ; and certainly the 
Canonsburg of 1825 and of 1830 was not much to boast of 
in point of size. In 1802 not even a pike connected Can- 
onsburg with Pittsburg. Indeed^ at that early day Pitts- 
burg had hardly come to be recognized as the metropolis 
of Western Pennsylvania. In fact, they were rivals to the 
honor of being considered the biggest and best town in 
the "Western Country". A gentleman who travelled 
through Western Pennsylvania, at about that period and 
who gave his impressions in one of the Eastern public 
prints said in speaking of Pittsburg, that "it would never 
amount to much as it was too near Brownsville." Too 
near Brownsville !" Think of it. 

No, there was no pike in 1802, nor for nearly a quartei 
of a century later. But once the pike was projected, and 
it was seen that it was going to be built, great things were 
predicted for Canonsburg, as a result. "Just wait until the 
Pike is completed and then you will see the town grow," 
was the talk among the business men and the owners of 
real estate and they were right — the town did grow, — but 
not so rapidly as they predicted. Many years later, these 
same people, or their successors said, "Oh, if we could 
only get the Chartiers railroad completed, how this old 
town of Canonsburg would boom", and they were right — 
but still the boom did not materialize as soon as some ot 
them expected, — and many of the Fathers died without 
seeing the Promised Land, — or as we would say in modern 
parlance, — ."they fell outside the breast works." But so 
true is it, as the poet has told us, "that man never is, but 
always to be blest," (and the same remark applies to com- 



28 Address of David H, Fee 



munities as well as to individuals), that with a splendid 
railroad connecting us with Pittsburg, the trains on which 
whirl us to the Union Station in 45 minutes, (which time 
will soon be reduced to 30), we are just as far from being 
satisfied as were our forefathers v/ith their mud roads, and 
later their pike and we are trying to induce the Wabash 
to build a line up the Valley, and are longing for the day 
when the trolley car shall tread the valley. 

1802 appears to have been a big year in the history of 
the town. Not was only it the year in which Canonsburg 
was incorporated into a borough ; it was also the year in 
which Old Jefferson College was chartered. And, by the 
way, the Centennial celebration of the founding of Old Jef- 
ferson, — Canonsburg's college, is to be held in the town 
of Washington during the coming October. "But that is 
another story". 

But it may be that the boom of 1802 was more of a pa- 
per-boom than one might suppose possible, considering 
that the community did not have a printed organ of public 
opinion for many years thereafter. Colonel Canon was a 
big man, it must be remembered, in Western Pennsylvania 
counsels, and his influence no doubt went a long ways. It 
is probable that one of the principal reasons why Canons- 
burg was incorporated before some other towns in West- 
ern Pennsylvania was that Col. John Canon, the town's 
founder, was a member of the legislature, and had worked 
long enough on a mill to understand "log rolling". Proof 
of the Colonel's influence in the Pennsylvania General As- 
sembly is found in the fact that he succeeded in having 
Chartiers Creek declared (not made) as some writers have 
wrongfully asserted, a navigable stream. The tradition, 
however, that the volume of water in the creek was mater- 
ially increased by the enactment of the statute, is not sub- 
stantiated. 




TWO VIEWS AFTKR THE KIRK OF NOVEMBER 14, 1S9S 
Photographs bv B. E. 



Canonsburg Centennial 29 



A century is a long period of time, and its days and 
months and years, afford time for the making of much his- 
tory. We realize the truthfulness of this statement in some 
fair measure^ when we remember that the College, which 
was chartered here in 1802, and for which the men and 
women, of the community prayed and gave and labored so 
faithfully, and which graduated such a host of good and 
great men, whose influence will be felt in ever-widening 
circles, as long as time shall last, arose, flourished, and 
passed away, more than thirty years before the completion 
of the century. The removal of the College, however 
was not the unmixed evil which it appeared to be at the 
time. Even there the law of Compensation, of which Emer- 
son has so beautifully and truthfully written, still obtained. 
The town never really began to grow and prosper in a 
material way until after the College had been united with 
the sister institution at Washington. 

The men and women who planted the banner of civiliza- 
tion in the Western wilderness, a century and a quarter 
ago, were firm belevers in three institutions, viz., the home, 
the Church and the School. And no sooner had they erect- 
ed the log cabin and founded a home than they began to 
take thought for the establishment of a place of public wor- 
ship. And Rev. McMillan and Rev. Dr. Mathew Hender- 
son, were men approved of God and selected by men to 
carry the Word of Life to the earnest, faithful people who 
first settled this region ; and theirs were literally the voices 
of men crying in the Wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of 
the Lord, make his paths straight." The men and women 
of the early days, — "airly days", Whitcomb Riley would 
call them, — were of strong faith. There was no "halting be- 
tween two opinions," with them. Like Paul they knew on 
whom they had believed. With them the Bible from lid to 
lid was the Word of God ; heaven a literal city with gates 
of pearls and streets paved with gold of the kind that dol- 



30 Address of David H. Fee 



lars are made of, and hell a place of literal fire and brim- 
stone. These things are believed, because their Bibles and 
their preachers said they were true. And they had no dis- 
position to doubt either. Indeed, it was not an age of 
doubt, but an age of belief, and the belief made strong men 
and women, and laid the foundations for the christian civil- 
ization, which as a community, is our chief blessing to-day. 
When disposed to speak slightingly of the narrowness and 
crudeness and literalness of the lives and creeds of the 
pioneers, let us think of their labors, and of the great 
blessings, material, social, intellectual and moral which 
they have bequeathed us ; and uncover in honor of their 
memories. 

As the traveller pauses when his weary feet have reach- 
ed at last, the summit of some lofty range of hills and gazes 
back along the road over which his dust-covered feet have 
travelled ; and then faces forward, and fronts still loftier 
heights, which yet remain to be scaled, so we to-day are 
interested in looking back over the way along which we as 
a community have travelled during the past hundred years. 

But, while we are interested in looking backward, we 
are still more interested in looking forward ; in peering in- 
to the future. And at least one reason for this is plain. The 
story of the past has been told. What has been writ has 
been writ, and no power human or Divine may change it ; 
but the story of the future is unwritten and we can picture 
it as taking anyone of a thousand different forms which the 
fancy may dictate. The future has the fascination of the 
mysterious, of the unknown. And, to-day interested as we 
are in the story of the past, we cannot forbear trying to 
peep over and under the curtain which shuts us out from 
the future, and read the story which fate has locked in her 
strong box for the people who shall be on the stage of ac- 
tion and of the Canonsburg Opera House, on the 22nd of 
Pebruary, 2002. 



Canonsburg Centennia 31 



What changes have taken place since 1802? Then the 
people of the community, surrounded by almost intermin- 
able forests and in the midst of a struggle for existence^ 
were putting forth every efifort to found in the wilderness a 
school devoted to the higher education ; in which their sons 
might be trained for honorable, useful and influential lives, 
and this not so much in order that they might be successful 
in a material way, as that they might be instrumental in ex- 
tending the kingdom of God and advancing the welfare of 
men. At the close of the century what do we find? Well, 
among other things this : The college, founded by the 
pioneers, has arisen, flourished and passed from us, and its 
influence while still felt in the community has largely 
ceased to be^ and it is material instead of intellectual, de- 
velopment that is claiming the attention of the people. 
We are building and operating iron and steel mills, and 
bridge works, and potteries, and stove works, and coal 
mines, and we are projecting trolley lines and competing 
lines of steam railways. Instead of streets crowded with 
students on their way to and from recitations, we see an 
army of brawny, honest workmen, carrying dinner pails as 
they hurry to and from the mills and mines. The soot and 
smoke from the furnaces darken the sky^ and the clang of 
machinery jars upon the nerves of the few remaining per- 
sons of leisure as they take their morning constitutionals. 
And as the Right Reverend John R, Paxton remarked in 
an address a few years since: "where once death-like si- 
lence reigned from dusk to dawn, now the visitor to his na- 
tive town is aroused by the whistle of the iron and steel mill 
at the ungodly hour of 2 A. M." 

What will the future bring to us? We cannot tell. Let 
us hope that she will deal kindly with us, as taken as a 
whole the past has dealt. 

That there is to be great material expansion and de- 
velopment in the coming years, we think it is safe to pre- 



32 Address of David H. Fee 



diet. Situated as we are in one of the most productive and 
beautiful valleys, in the State within the limits, and indeed 
near the hub of the Pittsburg District, which is now the 
greatest manufacturing district on the Western Continent, 
and destined to become immeasurably greater in the not 
distant future, we can reasonably look forward to the time 
when our population, our business and our industrial plants 
shall be far in advance of the present. Pittsburg is grow- 
ing as never before in her history. Her waves of popula- 
tion and business are reaching out farther and farther with 
each year; and the day is not distant when she will be a 
city of 1,000,000 inhabitants, and in all the valleys leading 
back into the hills from the head-waters of the Ohio, 
teeming thousands of people will live and move and do 
business. This Chartiers Valley will be densely populated 
from Washington to Pittsburg, and the trains on two dou- 
ble-track steel railroads will fly backwards and forwards, 
and the trolley cars will whirr and buzz every hour of the 
day and night. And this development, which is sure to 
come^ means that the two Canonsburgs are to continue to 
grow and spread East and West and North and South. 

And this material growth and development is some- 
thing to be desired and to labor for. Material develop- 
ment, increase in population, the accumulation of wealth 
are good, but we shall make a mistake if we come to look 
upon them as the chief good. They are only to be desired as 
means to an end ; as helps to secure a good which is higher 
and nobler and better. After everything possible has been 
said in favor of the Gospel of Wealth, Truth will still com- 
pel us to agree with the Divine Man of Nazareth when he 
said, "A man's life consisteth, not in the abundance of the 
(material) things which he possesseth. The mind is more 
than matter, the heart's love better than gold, and the spirit 
of more worth than the body." 



Canonsburg Centennial 33 



While we are increasing population and accumulating 
material wealth, let us not forget the institutions which 
were so dear to the minds and the hearts of the pioneers. 
Let us not forget that the home is the corner stone of so- 
ciety and of the State, and labor to keep it sweet and pure. 
Let us not forget that education is one of the things which 
the founders of the town regarded as of the greatest im- 
portance, and "showed their faith by their works". And 
not only did they labor to establish the higher institutions 
of learning, but they believed in the study of the common 
branches, — in popular education, — the public schools. And 
the people of Canonsburg have always shown a commend- 
able interest in their public schools, and have labored for 
their advancement. We hope that this interest may con- 
tinue ; that they may never be satisfied with present attain- 
ments, but that there may be a constant efifort to make 
the schools better with each succeeding year. Is it not true 
that the number of graduates from our High School is 
much smaller than it should be? Especially is it true that the 
number of boys who complete the course is discreditably 
small. Does this not argue that the value placed upon 
education in the homes is less than it should be? Is it 
no also true that the number of graduates from our High 
School, who become students and graduate from higher in- 
stitutions of learning is smaller than it should be? Should 
not Canonsburg, which has always been noted for the intel- 
ligence of its people and its love of education show its re- 
gard for culture by sending out a larger number of men and 
women devoted to intellectual pursuits? Our partial fail- 
ure in this respect we do not blame upon our schools, but 
rather would we say that the fault lies at the doors of the 
parents, who show their lack of appreciation of learning by 
taking their children away from school as soon as they 
are able to earn a little money. Let us try to change public 
sentiment on this matter ; and let us hope that in the com- 



34 Address of David H. Fee 



ing years, Canonsburg may have many sons and daughters 
who shall make her name glorious in all the professions, 
including literature, and may they never forget when they 
journey from home to register from "Canonsburg" and 
not write "Pittsburg", after their names as some of the 
leading lights of the present day. 

And the Church what shall we say of it? What can we 
say of it that will do justice to the subject? In Canonsburg, 
the Church has been a controlling influence from the earli- 
est days. Without the Church, Canonsburg would not be 
Canonsburg. Men of intellectual and moral force, who 
have lived in this place or vicinity, and who have also been 
well acquainted with many other widely scattered commu- 
ties, bear testimony to the fact that they have found here 
a moral atmosphere and a devotion to the cause of Chris- 
tianity which they have not met with elsewhere. This is 
a reputation of which we should be proud and which we 
should strive to maintain. Some people say that the 
Church costs too much money, — more money than she is 
worth, — but that is wrong. The Church is worth ten times 
what she costs to this, or any other community. Try to 
imagine what this community would be without the 
Church. You cannot. It would be a little section of per- 
dition on earth. Our conception of Christianity is broader 
and deeper than was that of the pioneers. Our creeds, if 
they have not yet been revised in the books, have been re- 
vised in the minds and hearts of the men and women who 
profess them, and we realize, and the pioneers did not, that 
love to man is but another form of love to God ; and we are 
ready to heed the good Quaker poet when he says to us : 

"Hold fast your Puritan heritage. 
But let the free thought of the age, 
Its light and hope and sweetness add. 
To the stern faith the fathers had." 



Canonsburg Centennial 35 



To-day at high noon the bells and whistles announced 
that the town was one hundred years old as a borough, and 
already the new century has crowded out the old. The 
glories of the past and the glories of the present, will be 
dimmed with the passing years. Year will follow hard up- 
on year, and decade upon decade. The generations will 
quickly come and go, but Canonsburg shall not perish, but 
endure and flourish, as long as the spirit of the fathers ani- 
mates their sons. 

"And cast in some diviner mould, 
May the new cycle shame the old." 




Address of Rev. J. M. Work 

FTER the conclusion of Mr. Fee's address 
and a selection from the orchestra, Rev. 
J. M. Work made an address as fol- 
lows : "I am glad this last piece of 
music was so long and good, for it will 
make up for the rest of the programme. 
One hundred and seventy years ago to- 
day Geo. Washington was born, and loo years ago to-day 
this town was born in the eyes of the law, and according to 
the authority of the state. The circumstances that surround- 
ed those men are very different from the circumstances that 
surround us. At that time the nation was just starting. 
One hundred years ago would put you back into the admin- 
istration of Jefferson and to the first Town Council of Can- 
onsburg. That council was organized two years and four 
months after the death of Geo. Washington. In 1802 Ohio 
was admitted into the Union, and in 1789, when Washington 
took the oath of office on Wall street, on the 30th of April, 
Dr. John McMillan was then running his Log Cabin College. 
Then they had neither week-day nor Sunday papers, bring- 
ing the news from all over the world. They had no tele- 
graph. They had natural gas, but they didn't have it. 
They lived on the top of the ground, and not under it as 
we do. 

"We owe a great deal to those who came here with a 
Bible in one hand and the log cabin college in the other. 
Possibly the great glory of this town lies in the history of 
Jefferson College, for all through the life of the college, men 
were graduating who became mighty in the law and also in 
the gospel. 



Canonsburg Centennial 37 



"Jefferson College has sent her men into the highest 
places in life. Certainly we would not forget those who 
have done so much for us. Suppose those pioneers had 
come without their Bibles and their religion, what would 
have been the result? Their legacy to us and ours would 
have been very different. I doubt if there were as many 
people in Canonsburg 100 years ago as there are here this 
afternoon. But whether many or few, let us not forget the 
debt of gratitude we owe them. The people are interested, 
and they are going to be more interested on the 26th of June. 
On that day we expect the history of the town to be given 
in full, and the honor will be given to whom honor is due. 
Lincoln was once asked how long a man's legs ought to be, 
and he said, 'They ought to reach from the body to the 
ground at least.' I think that a speech ought to reach from 
the beginning to the end, and mine has almost reached 
the end. 

"But I wish to say this, in honor of those who were 
here at 'the beginning of things.' They did their work well. 
They built upon the foundation stones of righteousness and 
truth. It can truly be said of such men, 'they can not 
expire.' " 

" These shall resist the empire of decay, 
When time is o'er, and worlds have passed away ; 
Cold in the dust the perished heart may lie, 
But that which warmed it once can never die." 

After Mr. Work's remarks, Mr. T. M. Potts, vice- 
chairman of the Central Committee, and in its behalf, asked 
of council its official sanction for the proceedings of the day, 
and also requested that to the committee, as outlined in Mr. 
W. B. Chambers' report, be committed the charge and man- 
agement of the future arrangements for a larger and more 
complete celebration of the founding of the town to be held 
on June 26th, 1902. 



38 Address of J. M. Work 



In accordance with the suggestion a resolution was 
offered and passed entrusting to the committee, on behalf of 
the borough council, the full responsibility and power to ar- 
range for the Centennial Exercises, after which the meeting 
adjourned with the singing of our national hymn. 



CENTENARY CELEBRATION 



OF THE 



BOROUGH OF CANONSBURG 



HELD ON THE 



Campus of Jefferson College 
June 26, 1902 



Including the Speeches at the Unveiling of the 
Memorial Tablet in Honor 



OF 



JOHN CANON 



AT THE 



NEW BOROUGH BUILDING 




Centenary Centennial 

AVING had a small taste of Centennial 
Celebration on the 22nd of February, 
the Canonsburgers seemed to like the 
sample they had had, and prepared to 
go into the larger event with full en- 
thusiasm. The executive committee 
held regular weekly meetings and dis- 
cussed the attractions to be procured, the entertainment 
to be provided, and how to feed and house the people. 
The committee on date of celebration fixed Thursday, 
June 26th, 1902, and decided that it would be better to 
fill one day so full that it must inevitably run over a little, 
than attempt two days of festivity. Rules of procedure 
were adopted for the guidance of all committees, such as 
Finance, Reception, Music, Concessions, etc. On March 
24th, at the meeting of the committee, Dr. John B. Don- 
aldson reported that the following speakers had been se- 
lected : Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton, D.D. ; poem by Rev. 
David R. Miller, D.D. ; historical address, Blaine Ewing, 
Esq., and an address by Rev. Mathew Brown Riddle, 
D.D. On March 31st, on motion of D. H. Fee, a com- 
mittee was appointed of which Mr. Fee was chairman, to 
find if possible the location of the residence of John 
Canon, for the purpose of erecting a tablet to mark the 
spot. 

Almost at the inception of the idea to hold a centennial, 
a communication was received from some of the descend- 
ents of John Canon offering to present a memorial tablet 
to the municipality in memory of their illustrious ancestor, 
if a suitable location could be secured. After some discus- 



42 Canonsburg Centennial 



sion it was decided to erect the tablet on the new Borough 
building, as being peculiarly appropriate, to the memory of 
the man who owned the land upon which the town was built, 
and the donors were notified that the committee would gladly 
receive the tablet and provide a suitable location. Thomas 
Patterson, Esq., of the Pittsburg Bar, was chosen to pre- 
sent the Canon Memorial Tablet to the town. 

As a means of notifying the world that we intended to 
celebrate in right royal fashion, appropriate letter heads 
bearing pictures of the old log cabin college and various in- 
dustries of the town were struck ofif and were widely circu- 
lated by the citizens and business men- using them in their 
correspondence. 

The privilege of selling souvenir buttons and badges 
was awarded to S. Clark Smith, and a book containing 
numerous and handsome half-tones of the business houses, 
residences and public buildings of the town, and the pictures 
of many of its prominent citizens, was gotten up and sold 
on a private enterprise. 

The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania sug- 
gested that as our Centennial embraced so large a part of 
the pioneer history of our county, that their society be ac- 
corded official recognition. This idea was most gladly ac- 
ceded to, and Rev. A. A. Lambing, D.D., President of the 
society, was requested to be present on that day and take 
part in sketching the history of the westward march of civili- 
zation and industrial conquest. 

To enumerate all the occurrences in committee would 
weary the readers, but the minutes are evidence of one thing 
at least, that the old town did not intend to be caught nap- 
ping, short of provisions or reception committees, speakers 
or lunch counters on that great day, when the crowds should 

come. 

The committees sent out hundreds of invitations to the 
old inhabitants and their friends, and even "a friend of me' 
friend's friend," was welcome on that day, and if he could 



Canonsburg Centennial 43 



lay claim to any of the blood-royal of the old inhabitants, he 
was the guest of the town, and the best to be had was his 
without the asking. 

After the town had spent much money in decorations, 
the houses festooned with flags and bunting and the streets 
spanned with arches galore, upon the night of the day be- 
fore the celebration it started to rain. There were many 
forebodings for the morrow, but we even had a committee on 
weather. Early on the morning of the 26th a meeting of 
the weather committee was held, whereat were present C. 
C. Johnson, Samuel Munnell, Sr., and Wm. B. Chambers, 
and after solemn discussion decided that the celebration 
should go on. The decorations looked somewhat bedrag- 
gled when wet, but a brisk wind starting up, they showed 
that they were of the same quality as the morals of the early 
settlers, they didn't come out in the wash, and by the time 
our visitors began to arrive, the old town found itself in 
such a dress of glad clothes as has never been seen in the 
valley before or since. 

But to tell of it all would be a waste of time. If you 
were there to meet old friends and renew acquaintanceships, 
broken off perhaps in the long ago, to see the loyal sons and 
daughters of the town come trooping back, it were folly to 
try to describe it. If you were not there, no language at 
my command could convey any competent idea. To be seen 
scattered through this book are pictures that may recall a 
few familiar scenes, but no sensitive silver spread on the 
photographic plate, can picture the bracing atmosphere, the 
ambient air, or the beauty of the eternal hills dressed in liv- 
ing green. 

The speeches, indeed, are here for your perusal and 
profit if you choose to read them, but any attempt to con- 
vey to the friends afar off any competent idea, to enumerate 
the family reunions, the reminiscences that were recount- 
ed, or the guests entertained, would seem cold and form- 
al in comparison with the reality. 



44 Canonsburg Centennial 



The Great Day 

The morning of centennial day, long expected and pre- 
pared for, arrived at last. Despite the heavy rain of the 
previous evening, it dawned bright and clear, with a refresh- 
ing breeze blowing. The rain had merely cleared the air, 
washed the face of nature for the great event, and thor- 
oughly laid the dust. Instead of spoiling the day it merely 
enhanced the beauty of the scene and made the green hills 
around Canonsburg fairly glisten under the bright, clear sky 
and June sun. 

With the coming of daylight the visitors began to 
arrive, by every means of conveyance known to the road, 
and the railroads soon added to the crowd with trains full 
to the platforms. At 6 A. M. bells had been rung and 
whistles screeched a welcome to those who had already come 
and hurried on the leisurely visitor, fearing he might be too 
late. And the crowds arrived. From a town of 4,000 peo- 
ple we were suddenly raised to a population of 10,000 people 
or more, with streets crowded and vehicles moving in every 
direction. 

A careful canvass of the restaurants and accommoda- 
tions for visitors had been made, and the central committee 
had issued a thousand meal tickets for its guests. Every 
arrangement that foresight could make or hospitality suggest 
had been made for the entertainment of the invited guests, 
speakers, and visiting organizations that helped to swell the 
parade. It was a day of old-fashioned hospitality, where 
one of the requisites to enjoyment is always a full meal. All 
the citizens kept open house and there were few who did 
not find some friend glad to accept the invitation, "Come 
and take dinner with me." 

The descendents of Colonel Canon were provided for 
as guests of the town, and those who had passed the meridian 
of life were met in carriages and conveyed wherever they 
wished. A room had been set aside for their special conven- 



Canonsburg Centennial 45 



ience, with attendant in charge to look after their wants, and 
every courtesy possible was shown them. Here they met 
and became acquainted, or renewed old friendships and told 
stories of the olden time. 

And with the crowd came the genial fakir — as necessary 
and adjunct to a crowd (if it wants to enjoy itself), as pea- 
nuts to a circus, loud of attire often and with brazen lungs, 
he sold buttons, canes and souvenirs — each one the only au- 
thorized and genuine article, and kept things moving in his 
department. 



Program 

The following is the program for Centennial Day Ex- 
ercises 

6 A. M. — Ringing of Bells and Blowing Whistles. 
9 A. M. — Starting of the Parade. 
10 A. M.^ — Reunion Canon Descendants. 
12 Noon. — Balloon Ascension. 

1 P. M.— Presentation of Canon Mural Tablet, at Borough 

Building. 

2 P. M. — Exercises at College Campus. 

6 P. M. — Balloon Ascension. 

7 to 9 P. .M.— Concerts by Bands. 



Afternoon Program 

Following is the program of the exercises held on the 
College campus : 

Music, Band. 
Invocation, Rev. W. F. Brown. 
Music, Band. 
Address, S. Blaine Ewing, Esq. 
Music, Glee Club. 
Address, Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton. 



46 Canonsburg Centennial 



Music, Band. 
Poem, Rev. D. R. Miller, D. D. 

Music, Glee Club. 

Address, Rev. M. B. Riddle, D. D. 

Music, Band. 

Address, Rev. W. A. Lambing, LL. D. 

Music, Band. 

Evening Program 

Program for evening concert, June 26, by the Muni- 
cipal Band, of Washington, Pa., J. H. Dever, Director. 

March, "Chicago Marine Band," Seitz 

Selection, "The Little Duchess," DeKoven 

Comique, "Scandels Douis," Keehle 

Waltz, "For-get-me-not," Brooks 

Dance (characteristic), "True Love," Kretschun 

Fantasia, "Southern Memories," Hecker 

Serenade, "Old Church Organ," Seitz 

March (complimentary) "The Batchelor Maids," St. Clair 

The parade was made up of many miUtary, civic and 
other organizations, and would have done credit to a town 
many times the size of Canonsburg. The business men had 
responded to the efforts of our genial chairman, W. B. 
Chambers, and put in the parade floats, vans, and wagons 
gaily decorated and ornamented with flags, bunting and 
brilliant colors, or glistening with the merchandise and pro- 
ducts of each house or factory. During the parade thou- 
sands of people lined the streets. The line of march was 
taken up on West Pike street and moved over the various 
streets of the town, an enumeration of which need not be 
made here. If, however, this account should survive far 



Canonsburg Centennial 47 



into the future it might be of interest to know the com- 
position of the parade. The procession moved in the fol- 
lowing order : 

Chief Marshall, W. H. Paxton, 

Capt. Lon M. Porter, Chief-of-Staff and Aides, 

G. A. R. Band of Pittsburg, 

Paxton Post No. 126, G. A. R., 

Veterans of the Spanish and Philippine War, 

John H. Paxton Camp, Sons of Veterans, 

Carriages Containing Speakers and Members of Centennial 

Committee, 

The Borough Council, 

Washington Military Band, 

Company H, Tenth Regiment, N. G. P., 

Local Lodge, L O. O. F., 

Guenther's Brass Band, 

Pennsylvania Reform School Band, 

Reform School Boys, 350 Strong, 

Thompsonville Cornet Band, 

Canonsburg Fire Company, 

Wagons Containing "Girls of 1902," 

The Fairies (a Load of Little Girls), 

The Brownies (a Load of Small Boys), 

Columbia and the Thirteen Original States, 

The Six Rural Mail Carriers, 

and more than fifty floats and decorated wagons, represent- 
ing the different mills, factories, industries and commer- 
cial establishments of the town, impossible of description 
here, a list of which, taken from the next edition of the 
Canonsburg Notes, is appended : 



48 Canonsburg Centennial 



"Some of the floats were remarkable creations, and rep- 
resented much time and expense on the part of the firms 
represented by them. The following firms had floats in the 
parade: M. Bernstein, represented by an old Conestoga 
wagon; Manufacturers' Gas Company, Alex. Speer, furni- 
ture; Philadelphia Gas Company, miniature oil derrick, with 
steam engine running and drill at work ; George Hiles, sad- 
dler, a splendid design; J. W. Hiles, shoes, a cleverly con- 
structed outfit; W. J. Elliott, hardware; W. H. Taylor, 
groceries ; Stumpert, bakery ; Adams & Newton, gents' fur- 
nishings ; S. A. Crozier, dry goods, a ship run by unseen 
power, one of the best floats in line ; Potts Bros., grocers ; 
Heinz's pickles ; City Meat Market ; John T. Thompson, 
blacksmith and horseshoer, with horse on board; Simpson 
Stove Company, stoves and ranges made in Canonsburg; 
Canonsburg Milling Co., flour; W. H. & Joseph Heagen, 
grocers ; J. A. Hilfiger & Sons, groceries ; the Daily Notes, 
with newsboys aboard; G. W. Colwell, marble dealer, de- 
sign, a grave with head and footstone, etc. ; H. L. Cockins, 
furniture; George C. McPeake, real estate, with design of 
miniature plat of lots ; R. W. Gibbs, barber shop in opera- 
tion; W. V. White & Co., groceries; Home Supply Co., 
groceries, etc.; H. B. Thompson, florist; H. M. Layburn, 
confectioner ; Briceland & Jackson, shoes ; W. T. Reynolds, 
musical instruments, a clever design; I. N. Hughes, drug- 
gist; baseball team, fruit dealers, etc. 

It would be unfair to make special mention of any one 
or more of the floats; all were excellent and the parade 
feature was an immense success. Nothing here ever ap- 
proached it before and nothing will soon approach it again." 



ADDRESS OF 



THOMAS PATTERSON, ESQ. 



Delivered at the 



UNVEILING OF THE MURAL TABLET 



In Memory of 

COLONEL JOHN CANON 

Founder of the 

Town of Canonsburg and Donor of the land upon which 

he built the Old Stone Academy 

A. D. 1791 

Which was in 1802 Incorporated 
as 

JEFFERSON COLLEGE 




THOINIAS PATTERSON, ESQ. 



Address of Thomas Patterson, Esq. 

The presentation of the tablet in memory of Colonel 
John Canon had been set for one o'clock P. M. The pa- 
rade was scarcely over until it was time to hurry off to hear 
the exercises, and some of us had scant time to do justice 
to the bountiful dinners which the hostesses of Canonsburg 
had provided. But true to his training as a good attorney, 
and in keeping with the traditions of the family, promptly 
at one o'clock, Thomas Patterson, Esq., of Pittsburg, arose 
to unveil the tablet in memory of his illustrious great grand- 
father, and on behalf of the numerous descendants of the 
worthy founder of our town, presented the memorial to the 
burgess and town council, assembled on the platform be- 
side him. A platform had been erected before the new bor- 
ough building, and from this he addressed the council and 
a large audience of citizens and distinguished strangers, as 
follows : 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of the Town of Canons- 
burg and Visitors Within Its Gates : 

I am here to-day as one of the descendants of Col. 
John Canon, the founder of the town, whose name it bears, 
to present to you on behalf of those descendants, the bronze 
tablet to his memory which is placed upon the walls of your 
town hall, and also in their name to thank you for the op- 
portunity of doing this thing, and for the appreciation which 
your gathering here shows of him whose life something 
more than one hundred ago was identified with that of the 
community and the college. 

While recognizing this kindly motive for your atten- 
tion and presence, I should be blind, indeed, if I did not see 



52 Address of Thomas Patterson 



there something more than this, something which shows 
an appreciation of the value of the historic past, and of the 
name not of one man only, but of all the men of that mighty 
past, who stood for education and truth and freedom, and 
who have made this region the seat of mental and moral 
movements which have been far-reaching beyond the power 
of man to estimate or measure. It is, therefore, not merely 
as a descendant of Col. Canon that I would speak to you, 
but recognizing the present as the happy occasion of linking 
together the past, and the present, to pass beyond the theme 
merely of his life and work, and if I may, add to the 
merely personal features of this sketch something of the 
time that is past, and something of what it meant. 

It is, perhaps, the most singular thing connected with 
the theme before us that we know so little of the details 
of the life of Col. Canon. He lived and died here, he twice 
married and had a number of children, most of whom dwelt 
in the neighborhood and in their turn married and left chil- 
dren to survive them, and so again until the third, fourth 
and fifth generation of his descendants are represented here, 
yet amongst all these there is but little left of tradition or 
account as to what manner of man their ancestor really was. 
We are ignorant even of his birthplace and his family his- 
tory. It is rumored that he came from Virginia, and in view 
of his relations with Washington, as well as his loyal de- 
fense of the Virginia titles, this supposition does not seem 
unreasonable. It seems probable that he came here as one 
of the colonists hurried forward from Maryland and Vir- 
ginia by Lord Dunmore, the governor of the latter State, 
to occupy and hold this territory, under the military pro- 
tection of Col. Cresap. At all events, we learn from the 
history of Washington County that, with the exception of 
his appointment by the Court of Westmoreland County to 
act as viewer of the road from Mt. Braddock to Chartiers 
Creek, his first appearance of record is as holding Dunmore's 
commission as one of the judges of Augusta County, which 



Canonsburg Centennial 53 



under the claims of Virginia extended to the Ohio river. 
Dunmore is charged with having sent these colonists and 
the military force, which guarded them, out here for the 
purpose of bringing on war with the Indian tribes along 
the Ohio river, with the ultimate and sinister object of 
making these tribes the enemies of the colonists in the 
struggle which he foresaw would shortly ensue between 
them and the crown. The fact that shortly afterwards such 
a war with the Indians, known as Cresap's war, did break 
out, started by the ever to be regretted murder of Logan's 
family — a murder, however, for which Col. Cresap should 
not be blamed — certainly seem to lend color to this view. 
In addition to stirring up trouble with the hitherto friendly 
Delawares, Dunmore also did his best to set the colonies 
of Pennsylvania and Virginia by the ears, seizing Fort 
Pitt with a strong force under Dr. Connally, and causing it 
to be rechristened Fort Dunmore, to the great anger and 
distress of the good citizens of our State. They were 
troublous times for the settler in Washington County, with 
the tom.ahawk dug up by the red men and the white neigh- 
bors, who were his natural friends and allies, exasperated to 
the point of open warfare by the high-handed action of the 
royal governor. 

That in all these times Col. Canon acted the part of a 
good patriot and was not involved in the machinations of 
the governor is shown by the fact that in 1777, two years 
after Dunmore and Connally had slipped away in their man- 
of-war, he was chosen colonel of the Washington County 
Militia, and was afterwards appointed sub-lieutenant of the 
county under Col. James Marshall. 

The red slayers were too close at hand in those days 
and too greatly exasperated by the artifices of Dunmore to 
permit many of the men able to carry arms to leave the 
county to serve at the front ; but such aid as could be ren- 
dered in sending provisions and supplies to the army in the 
field was given, and in this work Col. Canon is reported to 



54 Address of Thomas Patterson 



have been prominent and effective. That he took an active 
part in the operations against the Indians is also matter of 
history, and indeed to have held the position of colonel of 
the militia and sub-lieutenant of the county in those days, 
when every man was a soldier, necessarily entailed the duties 
of active command, and required unquestioned courage, en- 
durance and loyalty. 

From one unfounded charge, in this connection, his 
name has been cleared, and it is only necessary to refer to 
it because at one time the story was circulated that he had 
been one of the leaders in the movement against the Moravian 
Indians, which ended in the deplorable massacre of these 
Christianized people at Gnadenhutten. This charge has been 
completely disproved, and ample retraction made. 

At some time prior to 1781, Col. Canon had had sur- 
veyed to him the tract of 1,200 acres where the town of 
Canonsburg now stands, and which appears to have been 
even at that early day the point of intersection of two 
roads and to the prophetic eye of the pioneer a location of 
promise. While we do not know the date of the building of 
the mill, we know it must have been prior to the date men- 
tioned, for in that year viewers were appointed to view a 
road "From John Canon, his mill, to Pittsburg." 

Incredible as it may seem to us to-day, two boatloads of 
flour, so the story vouched for by his daughter, Mrs, Rob- 
ert Patterson, goes, were taken down Chartiers in the flood 
water, and so on down the river to New Orleans. Probably 
this was done only in a spirit of half humorous enterprise 
and of showing some of the possibilities of the country and 
location. 

In 1787 he still further proved his faith by his works 
and laid out a town near Canon Hill, which taking its name 
from its founder, was called Canonsburg. Here the fore- 
fathers of the hamlet wrestled with the forest, cleared their 
fields, builded their houses, watched against Indian forays, 
little thinking that the town they tore out of the heart of 



Canonsburg Centennial 55 



the wilderness would one day be famous as the great seat 
of education west of the Alleghenies. 

Four years after that there was a movement inaugu- 
rated for the purpose of putting the academy, which had for 
some time maintained a struggling existence, upon a more 
substantial footing. The story is familiar to you all, how 
it was first offered to the founder of Washington, who could 
not see his way clear to do anything for it, and how Col. 
Canon gave a lot for the site of the college, and afterwards 
put up for them the original stone building, to be repaid for 
the latter as and when the trustees might have the means 
at their command to do so. 

It is because I would speak later on more fully of this 
great work that I must pass rapidly over other events. 

It was not only his own affairs that Col. Canon had to 
take in charge, for on November 30th, 1786, George Wash- 
ington appointed him his attorney in fact to manage his then 
large property interests in this neighborhood. The power 
of attorney is still preserved, but unfortunately most of the 
correspondence has been lost or destroyed, a sacrifice to that 
spirit of cleaning up which marks the American household. 

His own interests, as well as those of his principal, 
Gen. Washington, were closely identified with Virginia. It 
is little wonder then that we find him stoutly arrayed on 
the side of that state, and although directed, on April 2nd, 
1 78 1, by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to 
call out forty men of the militia to act as guard for the com- 
missioners appointed to run the line between Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, his resistance to the measure was so vigorous 
as to call forth a sharp remonstrance from his chief. Col. 
Marshall, the Lieutenant of the County. 

The latter wrote to President Reed of the Supreme 
Executive Council, under date of June 5th, "Mr. Canon (a 
civil officer under the government of Virginia) one of our 
sub-lieutenants, publicly declares that government have in- 
fringed upon the rights of the people in appointing officers 



56 Address of Thomas Patterson 



for them before they were represented, and instead of assist- 
ing me in organizing the militia, is using all his influence in 
preventing it. . . . In a word Mr. Pentecost and Mr. 
Canon are ringleaders of sedition, and are doing everything 
in their power to revive the jurisdiction of Virginia." 

We do not know how the matter was finally adjusted, 
but from what we know of the Colonel I think we are justi- 
fied in assuming that they had to sit on his head until the 
procession got safely past. The story of the whiskey in- 
surrection has been told so often and so well as to need 
only a passing mention. How the farmers of this district 
were unable to market their grain across the mountains by 
reason of the long and expensive haul, how they were forced 
to convert it into whiskey as being the only portable com- 
modity they could manufacture, and how the Federal Ex- 
cise tax destroyed all profit on even this limited industry 
are familiar to all. The character of the people upon whom 
this blow fell was of a kind which rendered them peculiarly 
disposed to rebellion. They had never been in bondage to 
any man. Living with rifle in hand, self-reliant, self-sus- 
taining, they followed and obeyed leaders of their own 
choosing, and only those so long as their sovereign pleasure 
willed it. The land was theirs, they had driven the Indian 
and cleared the forest from the face of it. The crops were 
theirs, for in the sweat of their brows they had sown and 
harvested them. By their own hands, they had converted 
the product of their land into another form. Could it then 
be credited that a something called a Federal Government 
three hundred miles away, should have the right to stop 
them between the farm and the market place, and levy a 
ruinous toll on this that was their very own? 

People of the Anglo-Saxon race have ever been prone 
to resent by something more than words that which they 
believe to be an invasion of their rights, and these were 
people with whom the thought and the act lay very close to- 
gether. Protests being unheeded, violence soon followed. 



Canonsburg Centennial 57 



How the mail was stopped and the mail bag opened; how 
Mr. Neville's house was attacked and burned; how the in- 
surgents were summoned to arms ; and how the whole move- 
ment collapsed with the appearance of the Federal troops. 
Are not all these things written in the book of the chronicles 
of Western Pennsylvania. In all these things Col. Canon 
took an important, and to his credit be it said, an undis- 
guised part. He was present that night in the tavern at 
Canonsburg when the mail was opened, and his is the first 
name signed to the famous call for the armed gathering at 
Braddock's Field, on August ist, 1794. 

If it be true, as some assert, that Alexander Hamilton 
brought on the trouble, or rather forced it to a head in order 
that he might demonstrate the existence of a National Gov- 
ernment, it certainly must be conceded that he accomplished 
his purpose. The young nation that had so recently seated 
itself in Philadelphia, struck but once and needed not to 
strike a second time, and it was many long years afterwards 
before men dared to talk openly of the thing called rebellion. 
But whatever Hamilton's plans may have been, his great 
chief was too close to the people of this section to deal 
harshly with them after the law was vindicated. Were they 
not bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh? He knew the 
manner of men they were, their hot rage, their impatience 
with what they conceived to be oppression, their unwilling- 
ness to submit to bit or bridle. Even their faults were dear 
to him, and so very gently as one might chide an erring 
child, he taught them their duty, and then let the whole mat- 
ter drop back into its place as an object lesson, knowing 
well that new issues and new conditions would soon make 
it but a memory. 

Four years afterwards, on November 6th, 1798, in his 
fifty-eighth year. Col. Canon passed from this life. The 
scroll of what he did, of his errors and his achievements, is 
soon written. Brief as it is we gather this much that he 
was a man of his time and people. His faults and his vir- 



58 Address of Thomas Patterson 



tues were those of the men about him. There were giants 
in those days, and this perhaps is the highest tribute we can 
pay to his memory that among his fellows he was given a 
place of prominence and they looked upon him as a leader. 
The men of that day, who made up the fringe of civilization, 
while they suffered the loss of the refinements and culture of 
the older centers had their compensation in the development 
of a ready and courageous manhood. Put the tape line on 
them where you will and you will find strong sinew and 
swelling muscle. On the world's firing line there was no 
place for the coward or the weakling. All things to them 
were possible, all forms of energy were theirs, whether it 
was clearing the forests or tilling the fields, meeting an In- 
dian attack or leading a foray on a Pennsylvania town, send- 
ing flour to New Orleans or settling the boundary between 
two great states, flinging defiance at the Federal Government 
or founding a college, all came naturally to hand, and all 
this they did simply and strongly by virtue of their great 
manhood. And all this that they did, they did in the open — 
in the light of the noonday sun. Those that were pleased 
might applaud, and those who blamed might criticise, they 
recked nothing of either blame or criticism, thoughtful only 
of the work to which they had set their hands and how it 
might be made perfect. 

The workman dies but his work goes on. Of all the 
work to which Col. Canon put his hand, that which most 
greatly lived after him, that which speaks in loudest tongue 
the praise of him and his generation is the founding of 
Jefferson College. They did a work there, the men of that 
far oft* day, the effect of which they could but dimly foresee 
and appreciate, and which now none but God can measure. 
Without a word of depreciation for the institution which 
has taken its place, and which is doing a great and noble 
work, as a descendant of the founder of Jefferson, and the 
son of one of its graduates and professors who loved it as 
he loved his life, I may be pardoned if I dwell thoughtfully 
upon its memory. 



Canonsburg Centennial 59 



That its graduates have entered upon and graced every 
honorable walk of life, that its Alumni have been justices of 
Supreme Courts, governors, cabinet officers, statesmen, in a 
word have taken the highest honors and filled the highest 
positions which our civic life affords, does not by any means 
indicate the extent or the character of the results of the 
life of that great institution. In how many un-cymballed 
pulpits, in how many quiet Christian homes, in how many 
offices and counting rooms have the graduates of old Jeffer- 
son stood for the great truths of head and heart that were 
taught them within those walls above us. For two-thirds of 
a century she stood for all that is best in educational work, 
and to her support not many rich and mighty contributed, 
but the farmer and mechanic, the toiling men and the toiling 
women of this comjnunity gave that which they could but 
ill afford to spare, and the giving of which had to be made 
up for by other economies ; and to her service a band of 
scholarly gentlemen gave their timiC as professors at salaries 
which a skilled laborer of the day would reject as an insult. 
And from her doors there went forth year by year classes 
of men trained to the highest work of the brain and the 
noblest thought of the soul, who in their turn have passed 
on to others the light which they received, and so in ever 
increasing circles its training has told and in its influence 
has been felt. 

In these days when the standard and measure of all 
success seem to be the accumulation of v/ealth, when the 
millionaire is eclipsed only by the multi-millionaire, there is 
something in the heroic story of Jefferson College which 
speaks in a different tongue, that expresses itself in values 
that cannot be transmuted into gold," a story of hardship 
and privatation and toil freely and gladly given for the sake 
of truth and knowledge. But think not of her as dead, write 
not over her portals "Ishabod," think of her rather as living 
and increasing in the hearts of our children and of their 
children down the long years. And write over her gates her 
true inscription — 

"Her children shall rise up and call her blessed." 



Reply of Thomas Reese 

The speech of acceptance in behalf of the Borough of 
Canonsburg was made by Thomas Reese, Chairman of 
Council, who spoke as follows : 

Mr. Patterson and the other descendants of Col. John Canon 

here assembled : 

As the representatives of the corporate authorities of 
the Borough of Canonsburg, it affords me great pleasure 
to extend you greeting; to welcome you as the honored 
guests of this borough on this occasion ; to be able to say to 
you that to-day the town is yours as it was once that of your 
illustrious progenitor over one hundred years ago. 

To-day, our people accept you as the rightful owners 
of the borough, they concede that your title to it is more 
clear and more enduring than it could be in any legal in- 
strument because it has descended to you in the stronger 
bond- of blood relationship to its founder. We meekly sub- 
mit that your power is supreme in Canonsburg to-day. Do 
as you may, say what you wish, we dare not molest you. 
Canonsburg is yours. Take it and do with it as you will. 
Descendants of Col. John Canon, let me say to you that, 
many times, within the last one hundred years have the peo- 
ple of our classic old town had cause to feel proud of the 
honors bestowed upon it. To old Jefiferson College and its 
long list of eminent graduates, do we owe much for these 
honors. It was your distinguished ancestor vv^ho donated 
the site upon which this noble institution was built and for 
years it stood a splendid and imposing monument to his 
beneficient generosity and the indefatigable labors of his 
compatriot pioneers. But now, that the college, with all its 



Canonsburg Centennial 6i 



pleasing memories, is gone, we have naught remaining but 
its silent walls, which, sooner or later, must crumble under 
the effects of the different elements to which it is exposed. 
You to-day have come forward and presented to the vested 
authorities of this municipality for its safe guarding and 
preservation, a tablet that you earnestly wish and as we 
fervently pray may be more enduring than the walls of the 
edifice once known as Jefferson College. It has remained 
for you, worthy descendants of a worthy sire, to confer upon 
Canonsburg the greatest honor ever bestowed upon it. 

It is a source of extreme gratification to me to accept in 
behalf of the local government and the good people of our 
town, this memorial ; though I fear that any attempt of mine 
to express their appreciation would fall far short of that 
purpose. Dedicated, as it is, to the memory of Col. John 
Canon, founder of this town and donor of the site of Jeffer- 
son College, I can pledge you the faith of our people that 
that sacred design shall not be lost sight of; that the lofty 
sentiment it inspires shall ever be kept uppermost in our 
fninds. This, to us, I assure you, will be a most pleasing 
and, at the same time, a most religious duty ; a duty we be- 
lieve that will be very obediently performed by those who 
will follow us. 

To jealously care for and preserve it to those who suc- 
ceed us, will be our first and most important obligation, so 
that when the time comes that we must shuffle off this earth, 
it shall remain without any blemish or stain of unfulfilled 
promises. 

In the name of the people of Canonsburg, I again most 
sincerely thank you. 




OLD SEAL OF BOROUGH OF 
CANONSBURG 



ADDRESS OF 
JOHN R. PAXTON, D. D; 

Delivered at the 

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 
CANONSBURG, PA. 

JUNE 26, 1902 




JOHN R. PAXTON, D. D. 




Address of Dr. John R. Paxton. 

ELLOW native born, adopted citizens 
and curious strangers, lured hither by 
that glory of our old town of which 
fame has long since taken charge. For 
you all the old burg has a cordial 
greeting, a hospitable welcome, — three 
brass bands and triumphal arches galore. 

Well, it is so, this our old town Guntown, like Barney 
Macroby, has completed its century of corporate exist- 
ence, and has passed its one hundredth year. 

I usually speak of it as Guntown, it is a shorter name 
than Canonsbvirg and means the same thing, for all canons 
are guns. I mean no disrespect to Col. John Canon, our 
illustrious founder. From all accounts, Col. John Canon 
was a good sized son of a gun himself, with a long range 
and of a big bore. It appears that Col. John was about 
the whole thing hereabouts, — from 1770 till his death in 
1799. He must have been as much of a hustler as 
Acheson, and as shrewd as Quay in managing the machine 
of his day, for he was always in some office and never out 
of power in either state or national affairs in this county 
while he lived. 

George Washington was his guest up in his home on 
Sheep Hill or which ever one it was. Philadelphia knew 
him, often saw his rugged but striking countenance, and 
heard his passionate appeals for money and arms to fight 
the Indians on the frontier. 

He was our first Justice of the Peace, and Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas ; our first representative to the 
State Legislature or Council. He wrote all the wills, sur- 
veyed all the lands, drew all conveyances. In a word, — 



66 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton 



he was It, the one big pebble on the Shurtee's shore, — as 
the immortal father of his country called Chartiers Creek, — 
Shurtees or Shirt-tail. 

If there was no salt in all the country to cure bacon and 
pickle beef and venison, Col. John secured an order of 
court to seize all public salt in Alexandria, Virginia, and 
contract for its carriage to the Monongahela River and 
thence to Washington County. And salt was salt in 1780 
out in this region. It took a good cow and her calf to 
get a bushel of it in barter. It sold in money for $40 a 
bushel. Moreover, Col. John Canon knew a good fat 
contract when he saw it and usually got it. 

In 1 78 1, as Hon. Blaine Ewing relates, Col. Canon se- 
cured the contract supplying the militia and rangers of 
Washington County with a pound of beef, three-fourths 
pound of pork and one gill of whiskey a day ; and he did it 
and got his money. But Col. Canon always furnished good 
whiskey and full rations ; he was not like the howling pa- 
triot during our Civil War, always crying "On to Rich- 
mond, bleed and die for your country, Soldiers," at the 
same time filling a contract for horses for the Govern- 
ment : — colored boy rode a prancing bay up to the pur- 
chasing officer, sold him, rode away, and in a half hour 
sold the same horse again to the same man. 

Take him all in all, as Founder of our town; donor of 
the lot on which our first academy of classical learning was 
built (after Washington refused to give it ; slow people up 
there !) ; take him as frontier defender ; organizer of com- 
panies and battalions of scouts and rangers ; as public of- 
ficer, lawyer, judge, citizen, neighbor and man. Col. John 
Canon was a man, as Kipling would say, to gloat over; 
to hurrah for ; to admire in life ; to remember with pride 
and gratitude long after he was dead. They did well to 
name the town for him for he was a man set four square 
to all winds that blew, as a good Presbyterian ought to be : 



Canonsburg Centennial 67 



he did his duty as he saw it : he feared God as he knew 
Him. He hated ignorance as the hideous mother of all 
superstition, witchcraft, lawlessness and violent excesses, 
and cheerfully gave of his money and property to provide 
education for the children of the rude pioneers among 
whom he lived. 

We are debtors to Col. John Canon for more than the 
name of the town in which we were born, for he furnished 
McMillan the means to build the first stone academy pre- 
cursor of Jefferson College. It was he who said, "Let there 
be light in this town set on a hill" ; it was he who lighted 
the first torch of knowledge, west of the mountains and 
equipped the first preachers and school teachers for the 
making of the vast and mighty west. Let us — as the Puri- 
tans used to say in their solemn conclaves, — "Let us first 
of all praise famous men," and therefore, we, on our hun- 
dredth anniversary, praise Col. John Canon. 

Now let us see who came here, whence they came, and 
what they found. Fellow natives born, — 'let us grant it 
nearly all our fathers worked in their shirt sleeves, or our 
grandfathers did, as Oliver Wendell Holmes says. 

You see, emigration, as Emerson says, usually travels 
on its belly, nor on its conscience, not on principal, or in- 
dignation over rights withheld, or wrongs inflicted. 
Some Pilgrims and Puritans emigrated on their con- 
science, at least they said they did. I don't believe it alto- 
gether. The Pilgrims fancied themselves the only "truly 
pious" in England, and since they couldn't have their own 
way there, and wouldn't conform to State Church, they 
emigrated for liberty; for the right to worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their own conscience ; and Jo, as 
soon as they got to Massachusetts they wouldn't permit 
anyone to live in their colony who didn't believe and wor- 
ship as they did, and with glorious inconsistency began at 
once to pillory Quakers ; whip Baptists ; banish Episco- 



68 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton 



palians,and burn witches, to the glory of God. Nice fine 
conscience those old fanatics had down on Cape Cod and 
Boston Bay ! But let them live and let live their creed. I 
am glad I with my jovial soul^ was born later in Western 
Pennsylvania; but let them sleep in peace. They were 
grand men in their stern ascetic way, and benefactors of 
all the country ; exalting right manners, establishing col- 
leges and schools, and standing wherever they went for 
loyalty to truth, and duty, integrity, honor and fear of 
God. But Emerson is right, — ^people usually emigrate on 
their belly, not on their conscience ; they move away be- 
cause they are hungry; they leave their home to get more 
to eat ; to better their fortunes ; to find cheap lands in 
Australia, South America, or in our own great west. Thus, 
the people who came to Western Pennsylvania between 
1760 and the year 1800 were all poor. They crossed the 
mountains, endured every hardship, braved the treacher- 
ous Indian and faced the perils of wild beasts^ because 
they were hungry and poor and wanted land to cultivate 
and forests to kill game in. 

There were precious few rich heirlooms ever found in 
the cabins of our first settlers, no Chippendale sideboard, 
no Dutch tall clocks that crossed the seas and the moun- 
tains ; no ancestral silver adorned the pioneer's table. 
Happy, indeed, the family that boasted pewter or iron 
spoons and forks. The hunting knife did service for the 
men, and china was scarcely known. Yes, the belly's 
want to get square-meals, — turned the stream of emigra- 
tion to the head waters of the Ohio, during the last quar- 
ter of the I 8th century. 

The first pioneers and settlers came from Northern 
Maryland and Virginia; these people loved water, shore 
fronts, fishing, horse-racing, and always settled along the 
rivers at Brownsville, Pittsburg, Wellsburg and Wheeling. 

The Scotch-Irish or Protestant Irish from Ulster came 



Canonsburg Centennial 69 



next; we find them here in Washington County as early 
as 1765, fresh from Ireland and green as Erin's Isle. These 
Scotch-Irish loved the interior regions, the lands back 
from the rivers and greedily took them up far from the 
other settlers. 

When the War of the Revolution was ended, hordes of 
emigrants poured into our country from the Cumberland 
Valley, and the German settlements of Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania. Discharged veterans came home from Yorkto\yn, 
married wives, and leaving the old home in the valley, 
crossed the mountains with a few pack horses, and set- 
tling in the trackless forest, soon cleared a patch for culti- 
vation and began "to turn the wilderness into a fruitful 
garden", as Dodridge says, from whom I shall quote my 
facts. Just as my companions in arms, after muster out 
usually married in our country the girl they left behind 
them, and ofif to Kansas or Nebraska, went hot foot, claim- 
ing the 160 acres of good land and established homes. 

The toughest, thriftiest, frugalist people of the mixed 
multitude that settled our country, were the Protestant 
Irish Presbyterians. They loved the land and stuck to it ; 
they squeezed out the less thrifty, pleasure-loving Mary- 
landers and Virginians, and to-day we may truly say that 
the country is overwhelming Scotch-Irish ; as Presbyter- 
ians we own it and dominate it. 

And, by the way, we have supplied this country with 
more Presidents, — no arguing — ^more preachers, Judges, 
College Presidents, great merchants and manufacturers 
(to say nothing of fine farmers), than all the Yankees 
have, or cavaliers of the South, — at least I think we have. 

For the Scotch-Irish will at any time mortgage his 
farm to send his son to college and buy his daughter a 
piano. He believes in churches, and built one every ten 
miles through the whole great Cumberland Valley. Not 
a bad sort, these Scotch-Irish ; often narrow, close in 



yo Address of Dr. John R. Paxton 



money matters, stubborn in opinion and awfully strict in 
religious observances, yet pure in life, honest in all af- 
fairs, lovers of truth, devotees of liberty, ardent patriots 
pouring out their blood in three wars for this country. 
George Washington said, "if all failed, he would hold 
the mountains with the Scotch-Irish." 

I often fancy now how I would have loved life as a 
young pioneer in Washington County, in 1785. What a 
country it must have been to the eye, if one could only 
climb a tall tree on top of Sheep Hill and look up and 
down Chartiers Valley ! — hardwood forests stretching from 
horizon to horizon, and their green tops soaring and 
waving adoration to heaven; not an open spot of ground 
away from the creek, and on its high banks where storms 
had leveled the trees, blackberries grew in the wind- 
fall ! Surely it was glorious to fill the lungs with that un- 
polluted air, — to build a camp iire by the creek under a 
bluff, — to catch the gamy bass and perch, — cut a steak 
from the loins of a deer just shot, — mix corn-meal and 
water^ and cover the cake in the wood ashes. What a 
meal after a day's march ! Then the awful silence before 
the voices of the night began to be heard, — throw more 
logs on the fire, — spread those sycamore boughs thick 
against the bank, — unroll the blankets, — off with the 
moccasins, — ^stretch the tired feet towards the fire, — give 
me a coal for my pipe: — Nov/, listen! First the howl of 
a wolf, and then the growl of a bear, and heavens ! — what's 
that? The cry of a panther and screech of a wild cat. Oh, 
it surely was jolly to be a first settler ; and life was full of 
zest, because always full of peril. You know you must 
have risk and dangers to live at the highest point. In 
piping times of peace, plenty and safety, life loses all zest, 
becomes monotonous, stale, flat, unprofitable. We die of 
ennui. The nerves grow dull and scant of life. Oh, it takes a 



Canonsburg Centennial 71 



battle charge, or a panther crouching for a leap on a tree 
over your head : it takes the consciousness that Indians 
are in the woods, — one after you, — to make life interesting. 
There was a Frenchman who killed himself because of 
the monotony of life ; there was nothing to do but eating, 
going to bed and getting up. He would have had variety 
enough had he been one of Col. Canon's rangers. For in 
those brave days of old they seldom took their clothes off 
and their only bath was out in the fresh cool air. But 
life was intensely interesting. Such supple muscles, such 
sharp eager eyes and keen ears ; it was a hazard of for- 
tune and of life every day. 

The dogs were trained not to bark for fear of Indians. 
The fires were put out before twilight fell lest a scouting 
Indian see the smoke from a hill miles away, and his blood 
curdling yell be heard before morning at the cabin door. 

Only in the winter time did the settlers dwell apart in 
their own cabins on their own lands. In summer they 
lived in forts. Early every morning, the men, say a score 
or more, would ride to Matthew White's farm ; stack their 
rifles in the middle of the wheat field to be reaped ; post 
sentinels with rifles outside the fence by the forest to 
watch for Indians and give alarm. So they lived, — their 
lives in their hands. 

Every fall after the scattered families returned to their 
cabins, they found their hogs and sheep devoured by 
wolves or bears or panthers, and their corn eaten by 
squirrels. Every fall some one or more families would be 
massacred by Indians, their cabins burned and crops de- 
stroyed, and live stock carried off. 

The nearest settlers would see the lurid smoke against 
the evening sky. The men would seize their rifles, the 
women snatch up their babies and flee to the woods to 
cower in trembling anxiety the long night through, stifling 
the babies' cry. So they lived, — panther in the woods, rat- 



72 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton 



tlesnake and copperhead in every clearing and blackberry 
patch, and sculking Indian, with noiseless tread, stealing on 
the cabin or field to murder a man or woman. Jolly, 
wasn't it? No monotony; no loafing on store boxes 
swapping stories or talking stale politics in those days. 

Once the wolves went mad ; got hydrophobia and at- 
tacked everything in sight, — men, hogs, sheep, horses and 
cows. A mad wolf bit Captain Rankin of Raccoon Creek, 
and he died horribly, tied to his bed; so McCamant of 
Cross Creek died from a mad wolf's bite : but it rid the 
country of wolves. They bit one another in their dens 
and thousands died. 

The worst terror of early settlers was bears. They 
were not afraid of men; they had never been hunted and 
cowed. You see they say that bears got their taste for 
white man's flesh from Braddock's defeat. Hundreds 
were left unburied on that fatal field. The bears ate 'em 
and liked white men so much that for years they kept this 
sweet taste in their mouth, and would pursue and attack 
every white man they saw. They were like the South Sea 
cannibals, after they roasted the first white Scotch mis- 
sionary and ate him, they wouldn't eat common darkey 
men with any gusto any more. And when a big chief 
bagged a lot of fresh Scotch missionaries, it was indeed a 
royal compliment to be asked, ''Come with me, the pot is 
on the fire, have some hot Scotch with me to-day." But it 
was an acquired taste with bears and they were glad to 
lose it before the white men's rifles. 

The law was kind to our pioneer settlers. It gave 
every man who built a cabin and raised a crop in one field, 
400 acres outright and a preemption right to 1000 acres 
more, secured by a warrant of the nearest land office. 

The Marylanders and Virginians cared little for land. 
They thought it would bear only two or three crops and 
then he exhausted, as in Virginia it was exhausted by to- 





AUNT MARGARET McCROBY 



Canonsburg Centennial 73 



bacco. The shrewd Scotch-Irish knew better and got 
most of their holdings. 

Well, can you imagine it? A whole country in which 
there wasn^t a store, a shop or mill at first, a whole coun- 
try with no money at all? 

All the early settlers had to barter for salt, iron and 
powder, and lead was peltry and furs. Every year a car- 
avan of young men would go to Baltimore ; their pack 
horses loaded with furs to barter for salt, and as I have 
said every bushel of salt was worth a cow and calf. 

How would you like it to eat Johnny cake all winter for 
breakfast, hog and hominy for dinner, and mush and milk 
for supper? 

They wore linsey made of flax and wool ; flax was the 
chain and wool the filling, whatever that was. Every 
cabin had a loom ; every woman was a weaver ; every 
family tanned its own leather, made its own shoes, all its 
own clothes and ground its own grain. They cut or 
burned a hole in a butt of a tree slanting towards the 
bottom and pounded their corn into meal. 

When mills were built, towns grew up around them ; a 
blacksmith with a forge, a harness maker, a variety store, 
a tavern, a doctor, then a preacher and civilization had 
dawned. At first there was no salt, no iron, no castings ; 
there wasn't a hairpin in all the country, nor a buckle, nor 
corset, nor nail. Think of a woman without a hairpin or 
pin. How could she hold her multitudinous things to- 
gether and on without them? Where would she be when 
her low-necked gowns said to her, my lady, one more ef- 
fort and I shall be free ; when you turn that corner and 
your partner swings you, — without that indispensable hair- 
pin? 

Their cabins ; — we will go out and look at the original 
log college of McMillan's of blessed memory. There is 
another just like it over at Beach Nobs in which my 



74 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton 



grandmother, daughter of Capt. Thomas Dill was born ; a 
pious man; his coat of arms a broken reed bending over 
some smoking flax. Called himself Tommy Dill; the 
bruised reed, his humility and piety still descend to one, at 
least, of his posterity. Still you see, love never fails, 
whether we wear satin or linsey-woolsey ; custom 
changes, fashion comes and goes but love abides. 

So they went courting over those hills, and through 
the dense woods in spite of panther and Indian. They talk- 
ed sweet nothings outside of cabins under the harvest 
moon, and then they married. Next^ they selected a site, 
took up 400 acres and after the wedding festivities, which 
lasted at least three days, the neighbors gathered to build 
the newly married pair a cabin. It took just three days 
to raise a house^ finish it, and on the fourth d^ay the bridal 
pair moved in. They did it thus : — some men went to the 
woods and cut down trees of equal length and thickness ; 
some with teams hauled logs to the site ; others of experi- 
ence notched the logs, called corner men ; others put them 
together. While the cabin was rising, other men hewed 
out clapboards for roof, puncheons for floors ; others were 
at work on the chimney, built outside of wood and lined 
inside with stone. The old men, meantime, whittled pegs 
to drive in the logs to hold breeches and petticoats, and a 
shelf for the gourd and pewter ware. Others made a 
table, a big puncheon board supported on four round legs ; 
the boys drove chunks between logs and a rough mason 
mixed mortar and daubed it on the chunks ; and so in 
three days it was built, door cut, floor leveled ; and then 
came bride and groom, the house warming and Black 
Betty till all were glorious and happy. 

By the way, there wasn't a bird, or rat, or bees or but- 
terfly in all the wilderness, till the pioneers made clearings. 
Robins and song birds only crossed the mountains aftet 
settlers came. I quote from Dodridge. Crows and 



Canonsburg Centennial 75 



blackbirds had no use for the country till man felled the 
trees^ let in sunlight, and worms came to the surface, — 
corn was planted and bees hummed over flowers and clover. 

The summers were cool for the trees shaded the land 
and kept it damp in August. The streams were low in 
summer, no grinding done after late in May. The win- 
ters were long; snow fell in November^ three feet deep, 
and there "was nothing doing" except get wood, feed 
stock and go to mill. 

You know this country west of rivers in 1775 all be- 
longed to Virginia and was called Westmoreland County. 
Lord Dunmore made Col. John Canon a Justice of Peace 
in 1774 and held court in Pittsburg, — but at last Pennsyl- 
vania got us, and Washington County was cut ofif West- 
moreland County^ or otherwise my company might have 
fought with Old Virginia in Stonewall Jackson's Brigade. 
Think of it : — the width of a narrow river, or an imaginary 
line determined whether we died for the Confederacy or 
the Union. As it was, late in 1780, Gen. Neville came from 
Virginia with 300 slaves to settle on the Monongahela. He 
bought Neville Island. He bought much land in Ohio 
and took slaves there. These slaves scattered. Aunt M. 
McCroby^ aged 113, remembers it well. 

Now in conclusion, concerning the old town itself, 
these past 100 years. Dr. Riddle and others will tell of all 
its glory. "How far one little candle sent its beams", how 
the McMillins and Browns and Riddles of blessed and 
glorious memory made Jefferson College renowned to 
India's Coral Strand, etc. ; how we educated martyrs for 
God, who died by violence in the Indian mutiny, holding 
out the lamps of life to its heathen people in Allahabad; 
how we provided beautiful wives for hundreds of minis- 
ters and Jefferson's Alumni. How we kept Pittsburg from 
degeneracy and decay and profligacy by supplying her 
with nearly all her Preachers, Judges, with all her famous 



yg Address of Dr. John R. Paxton 



lawyers, and doctors, and her stores and factories. With 
truly pious Washington County youths to fill her U. P. 
Churches. Without Washington County and Washington 
and Jefferson College, Pittsburg might have been as cor- 
rupt as Paris, as dead as Brownsville, as slow as Phila- 
delphia. 

"What makes you smell so sweet? asked a traveller of 
a piece of clay he picked up. "Oh, once a rose was plant- 
ed in me," replied the clay. 

Just so, — and what makes Pittsburg great, prosperous, 
powerful? Oh, Washington County is close by, invades 
it, distinguishes it, — is the rose making it smell sweet 
and blossom in perennial prosperity. 

But the town and its people. Well, it is not so hand- 
some as it once was, but there is more money in circula- 
tion. It used to be that a half dollar started going in the 
town, never got out of it; passed from one pocket to an- 
other till every man had had it, and it was worn smooth 
on its travels. For that half dollar had often been in the 
collection bag for foreign missions ; it often treated girls 
to ice cream soda at John Brown's ; it bought taffy from 
Dungy ; it passed through Black and McDaniels or 
Ritchie's store a thousand times ; it bought watermelon 
from Jimmy Horner; it bought medicines for the sick; it 
helped to dig graves and gardens ; and paid Aunt Mar- 
garet for washing new born babies, lots of them, twelve 
children in every family. 

But the town, well, if you want characters, idiosyn- 
crasies fully developed,you must go to small towns to find 
these. In cities conventionality kills eccentricity. In big 
towns people all look alike, all dress alike, — as much aa 
marbles in a bag or peas in a pod. The tailor makes us, 
fashion fits us to its procrustean bed. We hear the same 
story; take off our hats same way; say "thanks", "beg 
pardon", "yes indeed", "awfully", all in the same tone. But 



Canonsburg Centennial 77 



small towns haven't enough dudes in clothes to make one 
ashamed or noticeable in last year's hat, or an old coat 
out of fashion. So, it is go as you please, and dress as 
you like, and grow your own native traits to their fullest 
development. 

At least it used to be so in old Guntown, when Johnny 
Land tingled his triangle ; when Barnum Weaver conduct- 
ed an auction sale ; when Squire Hornish used to sing so 
loud in the Methodist Church that he confused and threw 
out of tune the Presbyterian choir a half mile away. 

It used to be so when Gen. ■ — addressed the 

Divine Providence in prayer as "Oh, Thou Rambugnify- 
ing God" or when my splendid old dad in his shop in his 
shirt sleeves used to argue down the old seceders on close 
communion and infant damnation. 

Yes, it used to be so that every man in town grew like 
a tree unpruned, — conventions never vexed our daddies ; 
— everybody was himself, not an ape, imitating the great 
Matthew Brown or the aggressive, R. S. Breckenridge or 
the exquisite Dr. Alden. What could be droller, yea, finer, 
in its naked naturalness than the death-bed of that good 
woman of our town, who, when her pastor stood by her dy- 
ing bed and asked her if he should commend her soul to 
God in prayer, smiled and said, "Dear Will, I heard your 
grandfather preach for twenty-five years. I have heard 
more sermons than there are leaves on a sugar maple, and 
long prayers enough to do for all eternity. So, Will, if 
it is just the same to you, Fll dispense with prayer and die 
while you whistle 'Listen to the Mocking Bird,' " and he 
omitted prayer and whistled the mocking bird to her 
great comfort. 



ADDRESS OF 
MATTHEW BROWN RIDDLE, D. D. 

Read at the 

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONS- 
BURG, WASHINGTON CO., PA. 

JUNE 26, 1902 




MATTHEW BROWN RIDDLE, D. D. 



Address of 
Matthew Brown Riddle, D. D. 







HIS borough was _voung when I first 
knew it ; and I was so young that my 
chief delight in it was as the place where 
I could run barefoot. My recollection of 
it covers more than sixty years, and my 
relations to it make it a privilege for me 
to speak at this Centennial celebration. 
Representing a family that has made no small contri- 
bution to the history of Canonsburg, I am also the sole 
survivor of the Faculty of Jefiferson College, the institu- 
tion which gave this Borough its unique position in West- 
ern Pennsylvania. 

It is not my task to give a historical sketch ; that falls 
to more competent hands. But in view of what I know of 
the story, it seems proper to urge upon those present the 
importance of preserving the memories of those earlier 
days. To live aright in the present, to face the future 
hopefully, it is necessary to cultivate a genuine historic 
spirit. By this is meant that attitude to the past which 
neither thoughtlessly ignores it, nor blindly adores it. We 
are the heirs of our ancestors, and we ought to cherish 
our heritage. But we are also the actors of our own time, 
and hence should use the past to shed the light of experi- 
ence upon our own path of duty. Unfortunately, our 
American life has too little historic atmosphere. Our 
monuments of the past are all too rare. The busy rush of 
our life allows too little time for memory to garner 



82 Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle 



thought and feeling from the generations gone before. 
Such celebrations as this will help to supply the lack. 

This region is especially barren of a literature that re- 
calls in vital fashion, the days of our forefathers. History 
is, indeed, taught in mechanical methods ; names and dates 
are memorized, only to be forgotten. But the life in 
Western Pennsylvania has scarcely been portrayed at all. 
New England has her story-tellers ; so have other sec- 
tions ; the South, the West, the South-west, the Pacific 
Coast ; even Canada has a more abundant folk-lore than 
Western Pennsylvania. Yet Western Pennsylvania was 
the centre of the world's history, in the middle of the 
eighteenth century, and in the events that made the nine- 
teenth century so great no region played a more import- 
ant part than this one; whether in church or in state, in 
education or in industry, in war or in peace. This Borough 
of Canonsburg, moreover, has been one of the finest ex- 
amples of this peculiar and rich Western Pennsylvania 
life. What a field it ofifers to one who would put on record 
with literary skill the life to which I have referred ! No- 
where can a more remarkable collection of peculiar "char- 
acters" be found. Yet the field is almost fallow ground. 
Dr. H. C. McCook has made one notable contribution, but 
that is all. Nor does his book touch upon the century we 
to-day commemorate. The Whiskey Insurrection ante- 
dated the formation of this borough, though I knew men 
here who saw the conflict at Col. Neville's house on Bow- 
er Hill. Morganza is near at hand but the rich resources 
of history pertaining to Col. Morgan and his family, full of 
romantic interest, are known to very few. Of course, the 
story of McMillan's log cabin, and of Jefiferson College, 
has received attention and will receive yet more ; but the 
life of the borough, made peculiar by the presence of the 
college, has not been portrayed. We know some names 
and dates, but nothing has been done to make us see the 



Canonsburg Centennial 83 



real men and women^ to understand their peculiarities, to 
share in their joys and sorrows, to sympathize with their 
hopes and struggles. These people deserve the attention 
of the literary artist. The conditions of their lives were 
peculiar ; they belonged to a race with remarkably distinct 
characteristics, of speech, of thought, of religion, and of 
action. There was much to develop individuality also, 
so that there need be no lack of originality in the char- 
acters to be portrayed. The romantic element can readily 
be found. Family tradition has shown me that very clear- 
ly. When will the artist come to portray this life? Soon, 
I hope, for recent years have obliterated much that is dis- 
tinctive ; it will not be long before no one can recall the 
people of Canonsburg as they were in the earlier half of 
the nineteenth century. 

No attempt can be made on this occasion to do justice 
to such a topic, but I may be permitted to suggest some of 
the salient features of that past hfe. 

First and foremost, at least for many, stands the pecu- 
liar life produced by the presence of the college. The ele- 
ments brought here by the institution affected the whole 
community. The college itself had its own distinctive 
characteristics. It was Jefferson College, and it put its 
own mark on its men. In the early days the students 
came from a wide region, and inter-communication had 
not yet destroyed their provincial peculiarities. The col- 
lege life, the college politics, the rivalries of the two great 
literary societies, the pranks, the games, the slang, — all 
these were largely distinctive. The modern stories of 
college life do not portray Jefferson College as I knew it 
in the days when she sent out the men who have done her 
such honor, that she is not ashamed to challenge compari- 
son with other and wealthier institutions. 

In those days, the college was made by the teachers, 
not by the buildings, not by the endowments. Here is a 



84 Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle 



story to be told : that of the noble men who with salaries 
next to nothing, with appliances that a high school would 
despise to-day, — did yet educate, in the highest sense of 
the term, the young men who came to Canonsburg. If 
these teachers were poor, they spent of what they had to 
build up the college. These things, I know — these things 
I ought to say here to-day. The question of a teacher's 
influence depends on the size of his soul, not on the size 
of his brain ; and the greatness of a college depends on the 
size and number of the souls in its Faculty, not upon the 
amount of its endowment or the numbers in its catalogue. 
Measured by this standard, Canonsburg was the seat of a 
''great" college. None of us now living knew President 
Matliew Brown in his prime ; some of us knew him in the 
weakness of his old age when his eccentricities, rather 
than his excellence, impressed us, but the testimony of his 
pupils is unanimous as to his power. He gripped the souls 
of men with hooks of steel; he lifted them into a higher 
intellectual and moral atmosphere ; he achieved spiritual 
triumphs over their wayward natures. Though I am his 
grandson and namesake, I speak without partiality when I 
say that there was not in his generation a greater teacher, 
in this wide sense, than Mathew Brown, of Jefferson Col- 
lege, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. More of you knew and 
loved his only son, also President of the College. Refined, 
sensitive, delicate, of exquisite taste, and remarkable elo- 
quence, he seemed at first too gentle and lovable for the 
rough task of college administration. But how well he 
succeeded ; how beloved he was ; how scathing the rebukes 
that fell from his polished lips; how cheering the counsel 
he occasionally volunteered. These two, I single out, be- 
cause to-day I am talking of those I knew well, giving 
reminiscences, not a history. Of the last President, my 
father, I cannot trust myself to speak. There were others 
whom I knew and loved. Longest in my memory, as he 




a. 

■A t 

-I 5 

ai P 



Canonsburg Centennial 85 



was longest in service, — dear old Dr. William Smith. So 
christian^ so faithful, so lovable; for forty-four years he 
was in active service as Professor, for fifty years he 
preached at Miller's Run. That sentence sums up more 
of godly life and labor than can be credited to many. I 
met him during the Civil War and alluded to his sons in 
the Army ; said he in reply : "If I had twenty boys, I 
would have them all go." 

There was the acute Prof. Snyder whom I knew about 
as early as I recall any human being, and with whose his- 
tory I have many peculiar ties ; Prof. Samuel Williams 
and his brother Aaron, thorough teachers, both of them; 
genial and gentle Robert Patterson ; witty and wise Sam- 
uel Jones ; noble little John Fraser ; and the last one to go 
Alonzo Linn. Each of these names represents a living 
man, each a study for a character sketch, and what is bet- 
ter each a power for blessing to others. 

The father of the new President of Princeton Univer- 
sity preached at the Hill Church, and was for a time Pro- 
fessor in the college. Along this line I cannot venture 
further. 

Then the borough inhabitants. What marked charac- 
ters most of them had ! It would be possible for me to be- 
gin down at the mill and name a resident in each house up 
the street, out to Mr. McDaniel's and not one of these 
would be without some distinct peculiarity that deserved 
special notice. But I do not dare to make such a list. A 
literary genius, knowing them as I do, might by his art 
reproduce the life of Canonsburg from these characters ; 
neither photographing nor caricaturing, he might yet 
show what kind of people dwelt here, how their Scotch- 
Irish type of character took on various shadings and made 
men of individuality, of patient labor, of prejudice indeed, 
but yet of purity and probity. Even the colored people 
had their own peculiar life. They were not like the South- 



86 Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle 



em slaves, nor were they like the serving men in our 
Northern cities. Some of them had ties with the college 
families, and the college life affected more than a little. I 
dared not catalogue the white residents, but I will name 
Dan Arnott, Elias Praul, Tom Sluby, old Moses Brown, 
last and not least — Dungee, who sold taffy and other 
goodies to the students. 

But the peculiar religious life of Canonsburg must not 
be passed over. The borough and adjacent region was 
overwhelmingly Presbyterian, as is well-known. But there 
were three distinct denominations : the Presbyterians, the 
Associate Presbyterians, usually called "Seceders" and the 
Associate Reformed Presbyterians, then called "Union" : 
the second and third now forming the United Presby- 
terian Church. The original place of worship for the 
Presbyterians was at the Chartiers (or "Hill") church. Dr. 
McMillan's. Afterwards the church in Canonsburg used 
the chapel of the college. Providence Hall. The outward 
manifestation of this religious difference on Sunday morn- 
ing (Sabbath they called it) was in two steady streams of 
worshippers passing through Canonsburg, in opposite di- 
rections. Old Dr. Ramsey on a venerable steed passed 
along this upper road out to the Seceder Church. Others 
came down the hill to the turn. They, rode, as a rule, 
a whole family on two horses — the numerous children 
equally divided. The other stream passed down to the 
bridge to the Union Church. Why they went different 
ways some could not tell; but they were none the less 
tenacious and zealous on that account. The "Sedecers" 
had a Theological seminary out the pike. Dr. Beveridge 
being principal professor. The most prominent layman 
among the Seceders was Mr. Daniel Huston, whose home 
was near the village that now bears his name. 

To one unfamiliar with Scottish, or Pensylvania relig- 
ious history, Jhese denominations seem grotesque surviv- 



Canonsburg Centennial S7 



als of past controversies, yet they represented a sturdy 
adherence to principle, an unflinching persistence in main- 
taining what was held to be right, and I am not disposed 
to criticize them. Here, in this rugged devotion to minute 
differences, is a fine field for the literary artist. Some- 
one ought to depict for posterity the old-time Seceders, 
But the most characteristic feature of religious life in 
probably the most distinctly Pennsylvanian produce in the 
Canonsburg was the college "revival". One of the earliest 
is identified by tradition, vvith Dr. Paxton's great-grand- 
father,one of the latest I witnessed, as well as several 
others. It is difficult to describe the "revivals". A great 
wave of religious feeling would sweep over this entire 
community, often beginning at a college prayer-meeting. 
Special services would be Held, and sometimes for weeks 
the college chapel would be filled every evening. Some 
people doubt the genuineness of such movements, but I 
cannot do so. Statistics I will not give you, but a little 
story I can tell. 

One Sunday evening in the Adirondacks a party of 
Presbyterian ministers was driving back from evening 
service. In the twilight they began to talk freely of their 
spiritual life. Five of them were, or had been. Professors 
of Theology^ and it appeared that every one of these was 
awakened to religious life during a revival in Canonsburg. 
"By their fruits ye shall know them," and the fruits of 
these college revivals still abide in abundance. There is 
scarcely a land the world around, where there has not 
been, as missionary of the cross, some one who here con- 
secrated himself to the services of Jesus Christ. This was 
the great recruiting station for soldiers of Jesus Christ. It 
is not for us to-day to forget this, still less to think lightly 
of it. 



Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle 



Citizens of Canonsburg and friends : Thus lightly I 
have sketched some traits of the past. This is your herit- 
age — ^what will you do with it? Forget it or ignore it, or 
treasure it? Treasure it as a stimulus for the present and 
a guide for the future, in dependence on the God of our 
fathers. 




CENTENNIAL ODE 



BY 



DAVID REED MILLER, D. D. 



Read at the 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONS- 
BURG, WASHINGTON CO., PA. 

JUNE 26, 1902 




DAVID REED MILLER, D. D. 



Centennial Ode 



I. 

With glad salutations we join in your cheer, 

And greet you in this your centennial year. 

A hundred to-day? Can it be, as I'm told, 

Your jubilant town is a century old? 

So joyous, exuberant, full of its fun — 

There's something wrong somewhere — you're not twenty-one! 

The blush on your cheek and the smile in your eye? 

Some scapegrace has sprung an uproarious lie ! 

Believe not a word the traducer may say. 

The census is Jalse, you are sixteen to-day ! 



Your eye is not dim nor your vigor decayed; 

You're blithe as a bride for her husband arrayed; 

So jocund and smiling, so winsome and fair, 

So roguish, coquettish and so debonair. 

And if you're a hundred — I question the truth — 

You've quaffed at the fount of perpetual youth! 

And if some misguided old fellow should say, 

In the midst of his gab: "You're a hundred to-day," 

Lead him out of the crowd, but take care where he's led: 

The silly old skeesicks is out of his head. 



'Tis true in the days that we call, Long ago, 

Some brave pioneers made their way through the snow. 

Through rain and through sleet, through the forests and streams, 

And founded their homes in the land of their dreams. 

They builded their cabins, their schools and their kirk, 

And practiced the gospel of vigorous work. 

They laid the foundations and taught us the way 

And fashioned the glory we live in to-day. 

Of course they died young, and their children, I'm told, 

Grow fairer and stronger, but never grow old. 



92 Centennial Ode 



The red, spotted lilies grew rank in the vales, 
The children reechoed the call of the quails. 
The sounds of the axes and falling of trees 
New noises conveyed to the resonant breeze. 
The wild, antlered deer raised his head in surprise. 
And gazed on the scene with his wondering eyes. 
Sequestered and lonely the log cabin stood 
Mid tree-tops and stumps in the edge of the wood. 
And ever the beasts and the birds lingered near 
To study the tricks of the lone pioneer. 

When Freedom was bound and her manacled word 
Appealed to the world for the right to be heard: 
Your fathers came here in the strength of their prime 
The heralds of truth in the vanguard of time. 
Heroic, high-minded, God-fearing they came 
To wrest from the forests a home and a name. 
To-day what they toiled for ennobles your hills. 
The crown of your progress their planning fulfills. 
The hope that you cherish, the good that you share 
Have sprung to their height from the pioneer's prayer. 

And what are the blessings we share here to-day, 
For which in their wisdom they blazed not the way? 
Our schools and our courts, and our government, too- 
'Twas out of their planting this excellence grew. 
Our freedom of conscience, our rights before God. 
Sprang into their bloom from the Puritan sod. 
The right of petition, the right of redress. 
The right of free speech and the right of free press — 
By these we have slowly climbed into the light: 
The stairs by our sires were laid down in the night. 



H. 



The current of the dateless years. 

The thought that moves the hemispheres 

Is guiltless of repression; 

Is masterful progression. 



Canonsburg Centennial 93 



Some Luther finds a Bible chained, 
And from its sacred pages 

A blessing rises unrestrained, 
To glorify the ages. 

Some Franklin flings his kite in air, 
And taps our God's resources; 

And lo ! our planet everywhere 
Pulsates with subtle forces. 



Some pilgrim gains his Plymouth shoals 
Through tears and spoliation; 

And from that rock immortal souls 
Proclaim their coronation ! 



Some Edison assaults the realm 

Of fiery disk and crescent; 
When blazing gets our world o'erwhelm 

With blessings incandescent. 

'Tis from the germ the cedar springs ; 

The raindrop broods the ocean ; 
The nestling soars on solar wings 

And spurns a world's commotion. 

The smaller to the larger grows, 

The higher truth revealing; 
The bud is father to the rose, 

Its fuller life concealing. 

The coral lays the mountain down; 

The sunbeam fills creation; 
The helpless infant grasps the crown; 

A word o'erwhelms a nation. 



The round earth rolls its upward way 
From primal night chaotic; 

And awes its highest charm to-day 
To a divine Exotic. 



94 



Centennial Ode 



The world has traced its royal creeds 

On units and beginnings. 
No arts sublime, no matchless deeds, 

But have their plasmic innings. 

'Tis nature's law where'er you turn, 
The less involves the greater: 

The flames that to the heavens burr 
Have their volcanic crater. 



From units units upward spring. 

And ever multiplying; 
With larger faith their tribute bring. 
The larger faith supplying. 

So we to-day. of other days. 

Are but an evolution; 
Our starry flag with peaceful rays 

Was born of revolution. 



We've had our Gettysburg because 

Our Bunker Hill preceded; 
The good that comes from freedom's laws 

Was by our sires conceded. 



And if King George had ne'er been shorn 
From Sandy Hook to Braddock's; 

Ulysses Grant had never worn 
The crown of Appomattox. 

Had John Paul Jones not won the day, 
Nor wrecked the king's flotilla, 

Our flag had never graced the Bay 
And Fortress of Manila. 



H we are strong it is because 
Our grandsires laid the courses 

That form the bases of our laws 
And national resources. 



Canonsburg Centennial or 



Their toil a richer harvest yields, 

A larger wealth has granted; 
We reap to-day the ripened fields 

Because our sires have planted. 

In church and state and busy mart, 

They held the true ideal : 
Their worship was a thing of heart. 

Their trust divinely real. 

Where would have been our faith so fair 

In all this favored nation, 
If Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, ne'er 

Had sprung the Reformation? 

Or what, perchance, had been our lot — 

Sngelic or satanic? — 
If stormy seas had never brought 

The pilgrims puritanic? 

The wrongs of country oft they shared. 

Nor sought her spoliation. 
They knew the right, and knowing dared. 

To seek her coronation. 

When Fre»dom lay in shackles bound 

They bended low to raise her; 
And when she came a princess crowned. 

They were the first to praise her; 

They sought no shackles for their land. 
And those they found were broken; 

To valor true they gave a hand 
When treason was outspoken. 

They marched where'er the drum-beat gave 

Its warlike invitation. 
No alien banner long could wave 

When they upheld the nation. 



96 



Centennial Ode 



III. 

Now as these things you contemplate, 
Tell me, what makes a nation great? 
Is it some trick of sword or pen. 
Some holocaust of slaughtered men? 
The treasured ores of countless mines, 
Or woodlands with their stately pines? 
Or streams with packets crowded o'er? 
Or mills that smoke from shore to shore? 

Is it in fields of golden grain? 
In commerce of the pathless main? 
In iron rails with rushing wheels? 
In furnace blasts or flying reels? 
Is it in cities rich and great? 
Or in the circumstance of state? 
Is it in learning's rich domain? 
In graneries that feed the brain? 
Or is a nation's greatness blent 
In some set form of government? 

Ah, no! the glory of a state 

Springs not from these, however great. 

A nation is immortal when 

It rests on brave, true-hearted men: 

Men who retain the will of Him 

Who dwells between the cherubim. 

You may have mines and mills and marts; 
You may have commerce schools and arts: 
Your rivers and your seas may bear 
Your splendid traffic everywhere; 
The spirit of your mills may rise 
To cloud the sapphire of your skies; 
But if you fail in men — true men, 
God help your hopeless country then! 

Your commerce will in time decay; 
Your pomp and pride will pass away. 
No matter what you have or hold 
Of broad domain or treasured gold; 




y Q 



u ^ 



f^ c 



Canonsburg Centennial 97 



No matter though you wildly cheer 
The starry flag we all revere ; 
When virtue fades and men decay 
The strongest state will pass away. 

When zeal for righteousness has fled, 

Half mast your flag; your hope is dead. 

When honor bids farewell to men, 

Woe to your chosen country then. 

When men no longer seek the right. 

Pull down the shades, fast comes the night. 

When manhood and the^Christlife die, 

Then truth is bond-slave to a lie; 

When love of equity has flov/n, 

Ensceptred wrong usurps the throne; 

Or when a free man's vital breath 

Is some mad party shibboleth, 

Then let the conscious state beware. 

Then germs of death have entered there! 

The weakest link will test the chain. 
The strongest oft is strong in vain. . 
No matter what your triumphs be. 
What victories your eyes may see; 
What vast dominions you behold, 
Or where your tides of wealth have rolled; 
No land shall long her triumphs laud 
That disregards the laws of God. 

Go, trace the pathway of the sun 
Where'er his fiery coursers run; 
From noon to noon, from shore to shore, 
Roam where you will the wide world o'er, 
You'll find nowhere on earth a zone 
That will approximate our own ! 

Go where all crystal rivers flow. 
And on their tides thy courses row ; 
Ascend the mountains where they lie, 
And view the lands from sky to sky; 
Take if you will the morning breeze, 
And on its wings explore the seas ; 



Centennial Ode 



Become a comrade of the light 
And sound the deeps of day and night: 
Where'er you go; where'er you rest, 
You'll find no land so truly blest, 
As where Columbia proudly scars 
The blue air with her stripes and stars. 

But should you ask what makes us great, 
Where rests the majesty of state? 
My answer is, as yours must be. 
In men, true men, in God set free ! 



IV. 

In all this triumph of the years, 
This building of the hemispheres ; 
Hadst thou no part, no hand to share 
The wonders that were fashioned there? 



Aye, from your classic halls have gone 
The nation's truest brain and brawn ; 
In all the land, from east to west. 
Through them thou hast thy country blest. 



And far beyond the sounding seas 
Have gone thy blessed ministries 
Thy sons in alien lands have trod, 
True heralds of the will of God. 



Thy daughters to the lowly there 
Have v/rought the answer to thj'- pray'r. 
Far o'er the earth thy stars have shone 
And led the Christ-bought to the throne. 



Thy soldier boys to battle went, 
Their blood with brother's blood was blent, 
And by their graves and manly scars 
They gave us back the stripes and stars. 



Canonsburg Centennial 



Your fathers with their voice and pen 
Stood for the equal rights of men ; 
They showed the panting refugee 
The North-star route to liberty. 



Wherever human hands unbind 
The shackles of the deathless mind; 
Wherever man has led his friend 
To some diviner, nobler end ; 

Where right is right and truth is true, 
And men for men have dared to do; 
Where faith is kinsman to the soul, 
And love of God controls the whole ; 

There have thy silent forces wrought 
The highest good that men have sought: 
And all thy graces still shall run 
Through ampler arcs till time is done. 



LofC. 



*r 



FAMOUS AND FORGOTTEN BY-PATHS AND 

HIGHWAYS OF SOUTH-WESTERN 

PENNSYLVANIA 



REV. A. A. LAMBING, LL. D., 

President of the Historical Society of 
Western Pennsylvania 



Read at the 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 

CANONSBURG, WASHINGTON 

COUNTY, PENNA. 



JUNE 25, 1902 




REV. A. A. LAMBING, L.L. D. 




Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 

I. 

R. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
Old Father Time, notwithstanding his 
advanced age, is starting out at such a 
rapid pace in this new century that it 
becomes necessary for us to pause at 
intervals and cast a hasty glance at the 
past, lest it might be entirely forgotten. 
One of the m.ost effectual and at the same time most pleas- 
ing ways of doing this is to celebrate the centennial of the 
various counties, cities, towns, churches and institutions 
of the section of country in which our lot chances to be 
cast. There the aged enjoy a season of pleasant reunion 
after perhaps years of separation where the reminiscences 
of days gone by are leisurely passed in review, old friend- 
ships are renewed ; and the young are taught the whole- 
some lesson that it was in the courage, the daring, and 
the privations inseparable from pioneer life, that the tree 
of liberty, peace and prosperity was planted, under whose 
protecting shadow they are now permitted to enjoy a de- 
gree of prosperity and enlightenment the like of which the 
world has perhaps never before witnessed. But while we 
are permitted to profit by the blessings of the present and 
to feel sanguine of the future, let us beware of forgetting 
the past and the wholesome lessons that it teaches. 

We of south-western Pennsylvania have a very fruitful 
field in which to study pioneer history. It would indeed 
be difficult to find in the vast area of our great nation a 
better field for historic investigation, or meet with more 
noble deeds of valor, suft'ering and privation for the de- 
velopment and building up of a new country than are pre- 



I04 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 



sented in the early history of the territory around the 
head waters of the Ohio. But the treatment of these 
subjects does not fall to my lot on this occasion. I take it 
for granted that whatever relates to this thriving bor- 
ough's early history in its several branches has been or 
will be treated of by speakers who are more familiar with 
its details than I can profess to be. And it is fitting that 
such matters should be dealt with by those who have been 
living actors and factors in what they discuss, or who have 
it fresh in all its vivid colors from those who immediately 
preceded them. I have thought it well to select a more 
general topic, which will not, I trust, be devoid of inter- 
est^ and which is very intimately connected with the cele- 
bration in which I have the pleasure of taking part : "Fa- 
mous and Forgotten By-Paths and Highways of South- 
Western Pennsylvania." 



II. 



It is needless to insist on the importance of means of 
communication for travel and traffic between places and 
peoples ; they are essentially necessary _, and even the rude 
sons of the forest could not dispense with them. They 
were found in every part of the country by the first pale- 
faced adventures, and nowhere perhaps, more plentifully 
than in South- Western Pennsylvania. By means of them 
the pioneer explorers were able to penetrate into every 
part of the country ; by them the Indian trader could bring 
his trinkets and wares on pack horses to the most remote 
villages, and cheat the ignorant aborigenes to his heart's 
content; by them the land-grabbers could survey the for- 
ests, "locate'' the most desirable tracts and 1^ their plans 
for taking possession of them. These paths or trails were 



Canonsburg Centennial 105 



generally found to be the best routes for passing difficult 
hills and mountains, fording streams and reaching strat- 
egic points ; and later, when the military roads were to be 
opened, wagon roads to be cut for the early settlers, and 
turnpikes built for the increasing traffic, they were seen to 
be especially valuable guides for the ax-men and survey- 
ors. Fortunately for the early settlers the greater number 
of these led from the east to the west ; though other im- 
portant ones, crossing them from north to south, were not 
wanting. Notable among these Indian trails was the fa- 
mous Kittanning path, which, starting from the east, 
crossed the Alleghenies at the picturesque Kittanning 
Point so vvell known and jo much admired by passengers 
on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and extended to Kittan- 
ning, the best known Indian village west of the mountains. 
Next came the Frankstown road, v/hich started from the 
town of the same name on the Juniata river a few miles 
below Hollidaysburg, crossed the mountains and cout 
tinned its course to the forks of the Ohio. Its memory 
survives in Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburg. There were 
others of minor importance ; but two, were of special in- 
terest in this connection, as being instrumental in promot- 
ing the exploration and settlement of this part of the 
State. The first of these was Nemacolin's path, of 
which Mr. Veech writes (Monongahela of Old, pp. 26, 2y) ; 
"Nemacohn's path led from the mouth of Will's creek 
(Cumberland, Md.) to the forks of the Ohio (Pittsburg). 
It doubtless existed as a purely Indian trail before Nema- 
colin's time. For when the Virginia, Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania traders on the Ohio began their operations per- 
haps as early as 1740, they procured Indians to show them 
the best and easiest route and this was the one they 
adopted. So says Washington. And when the Ohio Com- 
pany was formed, in 1748 and preparing to go into the 
Ohio Indian trade on a large scale they procured Col. 



io6 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 



Thomas Cresap of Old Town, Mr]., to engage some trusty 
Indians to mark and clear the pathway. For this purpose 
he engaged Nemacolin, a well known Delaware Indian, 
who resided at the mouth of Dunlap's creek, which, in, 
early times was callel Nemocolin's creek. The commis- 
sioner and engineer, with the aid of other Indians, execut- 
ed the work, in 1750, by blazing the trees, and cutting 
away and removing the bushes and fallen timber so as to 
make it a good pack-horse path. Washington says that 
the Ohio Company, in 1753, at a considerable expense, 
opened the road. "In 1754 the troops whom I had the 
honor to command, greatly repaired it, as far as Gist's 
plantation, and, in 1755, it was widened and completed by 
Gen. Braddock to within fix miles of Fort Duquesne.'' 
This is a brief history of the celebrated Braddock's Road. 
Dimlap, an Indian trader, continued Nemacolin's path 
from the top of the ridge to the mouth of Dunlap's creek, 
immediately above the present Brownsville ; and as Brad- 
dock succeeded in giving his name to Nemacolin's path, 
so Dunlap gave his to the creek, which had formerly borne 
the name of the same Indian. Few paths have contrib- 
uted so much to the development of the western country 
as this. It became at an early day the route by which 
emigrants came to Pittsburg, and passed by means of the 
rivers to Kentucky and the Illinois country. Its import- 
ance in this particular can hardly be overestimated ; but it 
does not enter into my present purpose to treat further of 
it. Suffice it to say that in the later part of 1759 Col. 
James Burd was sent out with two hundred men by Col. 
Bouquet who was in command of the royal troops at Car- 
lisle to open and complete the road which had been made 
by Braddock from the top of the Chestnut ridge to the 
Monongahela river at near the mouth of Restone, that is 
to change it from a bridle path to a wagon road in order 



Canonsburg Centennial 107 



to facilitate commitnication with Fort Pitt, or Pittsburg. 
(Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, vol. ]L pp. 382,383.) 

The second important Indian trail was that which led 
from the Monongahela at the mouth of Red Stone to the 
Ohio river at Wheeling. It passed through a place famil- 
iarly called Catfish's Camp, which occupied a spot on or 
near where Washington now stands. Catfish was a Chief, 
we are to!d,of the Kuskee Indians, was a friend of the 
white man, and was the owner of large tracts of land ; but 
little further is known of him with certainty. The fact, 
however, that the national road later on followed the path 
more or less closely is sufficient to show that it was an im- 
portant factor in the early settlement of this section of 
country. But being familiar to so many among you, I 
shall not pause to treat of it at any length. 

The Indian trails not only showed the early explorers 
the best places for crossing hills, mountains and other 
difficult places, but having to take into account the ford- 
ing of streams that might intercept their course, were of 
no little service also in showing the best places for cross- 
ing them. Long before the use of wagons in the convey- 
ing of passengers and merchandise to the frontier, and 
when pack-horses were still the ordinary means of trans- 
portation, it became necesary to call some kind of craft 
into requisition in crossing rivers when it might be im- 
possible to wade them ; and this led to the establishment of 
ferries at various points. Brief reference will be made 
to a few of these, which had more or less to do with the 
settlement and development of this section of country. 

Treating of the brief period during which Virginia ex- 
ercised jurisdiction over a section of the south-western 
part of our State, Mr. Alfred Creigh, writes, in his History 
of Washington County (p. 22) : "The court licensed the 
following persons to establish ferries at dififerent localities 
within the county of Youghiogheny, from 1775 to 1779. 



io8 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 



Henry Heath, on his plantation on the Monongahela river. 
William Lynn,on the Monongahela river, from his house 
to the land of Francis Hall. Michael Cressay, at Redstone, 
old fort (Brownsville), to the land of Indian Peter. James 
Devore, from his house on the Monongahela river, to the 
mouth of Pigeon creek. To Samuel Sinclair, who lives in 
the forks of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, 
to have a ferry over each of the rivers. Jacob Bausman, 
across the Monongahela river, from his house to the town 
opposite (Fort Dunmore). Christopher Carpenter, across 
the Monongahela river, to the lands of Andrew Heath. 
The prices established by the court for ferriage were, four 
pence for any head of neat cattle, and the same for a foot 
person ; two shillings and six pence for a man, and the 
same for a horse." I shall not delay to locate such of 
these ferries as are not clearly designated ; suffice it to say 
that, they were all found between the present Pittsburg 
and Brownsville. A few of them will, however, be re- 
ferred to more in detail. 

I. The town of West Newton, on the Youghiogheny, 
was first known as Robbstown, and Robb's, or Simrall's 
ferry was established there sometime before the close of 
the eighteenth century, for the accommodation of such 
pioneers as crossed the mountains by the military roads 
of Braddock and Forbes, on their way to the West. It 
was by this ferry that the New England colony to the 
Muskingum crossed the Youghiogheny river under the 
leadership of Rufus Putnam, and founded the beautiful 
little city of Marietta, Ohio, April 7, 1788. And there can 
be little doubt that some of the early settlers of Washing- 
ton county availed themselves of the same ferry. I shall 
not refer to any ferry at the forks of the Ohio, the site of 
Pittsburg; it could hardly have exercised any notable in- 
fluence on the settlement of a section of country accessible 
by routes better known and more accessible. 



Canonsburg Centennial 109 



2. Next, then, we have the ferry at the forks of the 
Yough, the site of the present McKeesport and it is de- 
serving of a more extended notice, both on account of its 
importance in itself, and of the influence which it must 
have exercised in the settlment of at least the northern 
portion of Washington county. Like most river towns 
McKeesport boasted of a ferry at an early day in its his- 
tory. Says the annalist of the place : "It is a well-estab- 
lished fact that David McKee the original, owner of the 
land upon which the town was first built, appeared on the 
Monongahela before the cessation of hostihties between 
the French and the English, and that he was well received 
by Queen Aliquippa. He settled at the forks of the 
Yough by her permission, and in 1769, the colonial gov- 
ernment confirmed to him the exclusive right of operating 
a ferry over the two rivers at their confluence." 

3. It may strike some persons with surprise to be told 
that Elizabeth is the oldest town in Allegheny county. It 
was founded by Col. Stephen Bayard in 1787, and was 
named after his wife Elizabeth, who was a daughter of 
Col. Aeneas Mackay. The Pennsylvania Journal of Janu- 
ary 13, 1788, enumerating the advantages of the town, in 
an advertisement for the sale of lots, says, among other 
things : "This town is situated on the east side of the Mo- 
nongahela river, between Red Stone, Old Fort and Pitts- 
burg, twenty miles above the latter by water and fifteen 
by land. The roads from the lower counties lead directly 
through it to Washington and Wheeling." And there was 
necessarily a ferry to carry the settlers across the river on 
their way to their new prospective homes. 

4. Continuing up the river and coming more di- 
rectly into comunication with Washington county, we 
reach Aionongahela City and at the same time a ver}- im- 
portant ferry. That flourishing little city was first known 
in frontier history as Parkison's Ferry. John Parkison is 



Address of Rev, A. A. Lambing 



said to have secured a tract of seventy acres of land upon 
which a part of the city now stands, by a warrant issued 
August 27, 1769. It is sometimes spoken of as Southark, 
or Southwork. At the time, it is hardly necessary to say, 
both Pennsylvania and Virginia laid claim to the territory 
embraced in the south-western part of our State., The 
first court, held under Lord Dunmore, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, in 1775, authorized James Devore to keep a ferry 
"from his house on the Monongahela river to the mouth 
of Pigeon creek/' On February 11, 1780, James Parkison 
secured a tract of three hundred eighteen acres more. The 
place was known among the early settlers as "The Mouth 
of Pigeon Creek'', or, "Devore's Ferry." On April 13, 
1782, an act was passed by which the ferry landing of 
Joseph Parkison and Jacobus Devore was established 
"thirty perches below the mouth of Pigeon creek." Parki- 
son kept a store and carried on a small trade with the In- 
dians as well as the whites ; and in time he felt sufficiently 
encouraged with his success to lay out a town. This he did 
in 1792 ; and put the following advertisement in the, Pitts- 
burg Gazette in October of that year. "The subscriber has 
laid out a part of his farm on the Monongahela river in 
the county of Washington, State of Pennsylvania, at the 
mouth of Pigeon creek^ opposite Devore's Ferry, into lots 
for a town, the sale of which will begin on the premises on 
the 15th of November next." 

5. One would naturally expect that Old Redstone, or 
later, Brownsville, would be noted for its ferry ; but scarce- 
ly any mention is made of one there in pioneer history. 
And, if we pause for a moment to reflect, this will not ap- 
pear at all strange. Brownsville was not noted as a place 
for crossing the river, but as one of embarkation for Pitts- 
burg or the western countries ; and hence, while it had its 
ferry, and did a fair business with it in transporting the 
early settlers of this section of the State across the Mo- 



Canonsburg Centennial 



nongahela, this was a matter of only secondary import- 
ance, and in consequence, claims little of the local annal- 
ist's attention. But let this suffice for ferries ; turn we 
now to roads. 

Coming to roads, however indifferent some of them 
may at first have been, we begm with Bi'addock's Road; 
which, though it did not penetrate into Washington 
county^ was yet made use of by not a few of the early set- 
tlers. It was the first road for vehicles at least to the top 
of the Chestnut ridge ; and it rendered the cutting of a 
road to the Monongahela far less difficult and expensive 
than it Avould otherwise have been. Forbes' Road, which 
led across the mountains from the east by way of Carlisle, 
Chambersburg, Bedford, Ligonier and Hannahstown to 
Pittsburg, opened the second thoroughfare to the waters 
leading south and west, and contributed at least to a lim- 
ited extent to the settlement and development of the 
south-western portion of the State. But for the town and 
surrounding country, whose hundredth year we are now 
celebrating, Brownsville must be regarded as the principal 
distributing point. We have seen that Braddock's Road 
v/as continued from the top of the ridge to the Mononga- 
hela by Col. James BiutI, in 1759. Thus the way was 
opened for the great artery of travel and traffic which was 
destined to diffuse the nation's blood, energy and wealth 
not only throughout this section^ but also far across the 
waters of the Ohio. And, as a conclusion of my remarks, 
I shall turn my attention briefly to it. And what could be 
more worthy or more appropriate than the greatest na- 
tional road of the United States ! By way of contrast let 
me again refer to the bridle-path and mountain road that 
led across from Cumberland, threading their way through 
the forests^ to the river. All merchandise was carried on 
pack-horses and contemporarv accounts tell us that tvv'O 
men could manage ten or fifteen horses, each carrying 



Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 



about two hundred pounds, by tying one to the other in 
single file ; one of the men taking charge of the lead horse 
to pioneer and the other the hinder one to keep an eye on 
the proper adjustment of the loads, and stir up any that 
appeared to lag. Bells were indispensable accompaniments 
to the horses by which their position could be easily ascer- 
tained in the morning when hunting up, previous to a 
start. Some grass or leaves were inserted in the bell to 
prevent the clapper from acting during the travel of the 
day. Succeeding this primitive sort of road and transpor- 
tation, was, as we have said, the indifferent wagon road. 
Speaking of it, Mr. Sherman Day, in his Historical Col- 
lections of Pennsylvania, says : "The first wagon load of 
merchandise that was over the mountains on the southern 
route, or that traversed by the National Road, was in 1789. 
They were for Jacob Bowman, who had settled at Browns- 
ville as a merchant in 1787. The wagoner was John Hay- 
den, who also resided in Fayette county. He drove four 
horses, and brought out about twenty hundred pounds, 
for which he received three dollars per hundred, and was 
nearly a month making the trip to and from Hagerstown, 
Maryland, a distance of about one hundred and forty 
miles."" Mr. Thomas B. Searight's valuable work, "The 
Old Pike," shall be my authority for nearly all I shall 
have to say of this King of Roads and I shall not hesitate 
to quote verbatim from his learned pages. He says (p. 14.) 
"Tradition, cheerfully acquiesced in by popular thought^ 
attributes to Henry Clay the conception of the National 
Road, but this seems to be an error. The Hon. Andrew 
Stewart, in a speech delivered in Congress January 2"], 
1826, asserted that Mr. Albert Gallatin was the very first 
man that even suggested the plan for making the "Cum- 
berland Road," as the National Road was sometimes 
called. Whatever vieAvs and opinions may have been en- 
tertained regarding the project, it was not until 1806, 



Canonsburg Centennial II3 



when Jefferson was president, that the proposition for a 
national road took practical shape. The first step was 
the appointment of commissioners to lay out the road, 
wih an appropriation of money to meet the consequent 
expenses, (p. 13.) I shall not delay to remark on the vicis- 
situdes through which the project passed from its incip- 
iency to it completion, and indeed through its entire exist- 
ence. Being an undertaking of national importance, it 
naturally awakened national interest, and the expression 
of a nation's opinions and views, which can never be a 
unit. But, as Mr. Searight very truly says : "From the 
time it was thrown open to the public, in the year 1818, 
until the coming of railroads west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains, in 1852, the National Road was the great highway, 
over which passed the bulk of trade and travel, and the 
mails between the east and the west. Its numerous and 
stately stone bridges with handsomely turned arches, its 
iron mile posts, and its old iron gates, attest the skill of 
the workmen engaged in its construction, and to this day 
remain enduring monuments of its grandeur and solidity, 
all save the imposing iron gates, which have disappeared 
by process of conversions prompted by some utilitarian 
idea, savoring in no little measure of sacrilege. Many of 
the illustrious statesmen and heroes of the early period of 
our national existence passed over the National Road 
from their homes to the capital and back, at the opening 
and closing of the sessions of Congress. Jackson, Harri- 
son, Clay, Sam Houston, Polk, Taylor, Crittenden, Shel- 
by, Allen, Scott, Butler, the eccentric Davy Crockett, and 
many of their contemporaries in public service, were fa- 
miliar figures in the eyes of the dwellers by the roadside. 
As many as twenty four-horse coaches have been counted 
in line at one time on the road, and large, broad-wheeled 
wagons, covered with white canvass stretched over bows, 
laden with merchandise and drawn by six Conestoga 



114 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 



horses, were visible all the day long at every point, and 
many times until late in the evening, besides innumerable 
caravans of horses, mules, cattle, hogs, and sheep. It 
looked more like the leading avenue of a great city than a 
road through rural ditricts. 

"The road had its peculiar nomenclature, familiar to 
the tens of thousands who traveled over it in its palmy 
days. The names, for example, applied to peculiar local- 
ities on the line, are of striking import, and blend harmon- 
iously with the unique history of the road. With the 
names omitted, the road would be robbed of much of what 
adds interest to its history. Among the best remembered 
of these are, The Shades of Death, The Narrows, Piney 
Grove, Big Crossing, Negro Mountain, Keyser's Ridge, 
Wodcock Hill, Chalk Hill, Big Savage, Little Savage, 
Snake Hill, Laurel Hill, The Turkey's Nest, Egg Nog 
Hill, Coon Island, and Wheeling Hill, Rich memories 
cluster around every one of these names, and the old wag- 
oners and stage drivers delight to linger over the scenes 
they bring to mind." I shall not delay to recount any of 
the reminiscenses of taverns, wagon and stage drivers, the 
numerous adventures and hair-breadth escapes, as well as 
the accidents that marked the history of the road. Nor of 
the system by which the road was kept in repair, and the 
legislation that was found necessary to that end. Let me 
give only one example of a single trip on the road, where 
many others no less remarkable might be added. In 1838 
Daniel Barcus engaged v/ith John Hopkins, a merchant 
doing business at the foot of Light and Pratt streets, Balti- 
more, to haul a load of general merchandise, weighing 
8,300 pounds, to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He delivered the 
goods in good condition at the end of thirty days from 
the date of his departure from Baltimore, His route was 
over the National Road to Wheeling, thence to Zanesville 
and Jacktown, Ohio, thence, thirty-two miles, from the 



Canonsburg Centennial jjr 



latter place to the point of destination, the distance being 
397 miles. He received $4.25 per hundred for hauling the 
goods. At Mt. Vernon he loaded back with Ohio tobacco, 
7,200 pounds in hogshead, for which he received $2.75 per 
hundred. (Searight, p. 112.) The teamsters like all other 
persons engaged in the same occupation, formed a class 
by themselves with their friendships and enmities, their 
likes and dislikes, and one of the means by which they 
used to while away a part of their time on a road so fa- 
miliar to them was by smoking; and, we are told, they 
used to buy very cheap cigars. To meet this demand a 
cigar manufacturer in Washington, Pa., whose name is 
lost to fame, concluded to turn a penny by making a cheap 
"roll-up" for them at four for a cent. They soon became 
very popular with the drivers, and were at first called Con- 
estoga cigars; since, by usage, corrupted into "stogies" 
and "tobies". (Searight, p. 144.) 

But the rapid transmis^^ion of the mails would natural- 
ly be a matter of the very first importance ; and the more 
so as telegraph lines, and much more telephones, were, as 
yet, things of the future. The fame attained by the Na- 
tional Road in this particular is deserving of notice. And 
in this, as in every thing else, there were not wanting 
those who were ambitious of standing at, or least very 
near, the head of their profession. Among these, we are 
told by the historian of the Road, was Redding Bunting, 
who was probably more widely known and had more 
friends than any other old stage driver on the road. He 
was a great favorite of Mr. Stockton, the leading propri- 
etor of the line. His commanding appearance is im- 
pressed upon the memories of all who knew him. He 
stood six feet six inches in his stockings, and straight as 
an arrow without any redundant flesh; and was endowed 
with a large fund of what was then, and is still very prop- 
erly known as "horse sense". During the presidency of 



ii6 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing 



Mr. Van Buren, it was deemed desirable by the authorities 
that one of his special messages should be speedily spread 
before the people. Accordingly arangements were made 
with the Stockton line, which had the contract for carry- 
ing the mails, to transmit the message of the President 
with all possible dispatch. The Baltimore and Ohio rail- 
road at that time was not in operation west of Frederick 
City, Maryland. Mr. Bunting, as agent of the company, 
repaired to that point to receive the coming document and 
convey it to Wheeling. He sat by the side of the driver 
the entire distance from Frederick to Wheeling to super- 
intend the matter and urge up the speed. The distance 
between the two points is 222 miles, and was covered in 
twenty-three hours and thirty minutes. Among the driv- 
ers between the relays was Homor Westover, who drove 
the coach from Uniontown to Brownsville, covering the 
twelve miles in the almost incredible space of forty-four 
minutes. In the year 1846, after the railroad was com- 
pleted to Cumberland, he rivaled, if he did not surpass 
that remarkable feat of rapid transit, in driving the mail 
coach from Cumberland to Wheeling, which carried the 
messages of President Polk, officially proclaiming that 
war existed between the United States and Mexico. Leav- 
ing Cumberland at two o'clock in the morning, he reached 
Uniontown at eight o'clock of the same morning, break- 
fasted there with his passengers, at his own house, (for he 
was then proprietor of the National), and set out, reach- 
ing Washington at eleven o'clock, and Wheeling at two, 
covering a distance of 132 miles in twelve hours. (Sea- 
right, pp. 52, 53.) 

While realizing the stubborn fact that, the world will 
move and the present will constantly retire into the past, 
we cannot cast a retrospective glance at the years gone by 
without a feeling of regret ; nor can we blame men all of 
whose associations, memories and interests were associ- 



Canonsburg Centennial 117 



ated with the National Road for looking with an unfriend- 
ly, almost a hostile eye, on the march of an irresistible 
progress which put an end to their calling. But those 
men and those means filled their place and filled it in a 
manner that can cause them little regret in laying down 
the burden of life or being cast aside ; and while we profit 
by their manly deeds we should be careful not to permit 
memory to be lost in oblivion. It is sad, we repeat with 
Mr. Searight, to think that nearly all the old drivers, so 
full of life and hope and promise when pursuing their fa- 
vorite calling on the nation's great highway, have 
answered the summons that awaits the whole human fam- 
ily; and of the vast multitude that witnessed and admired 
the dashing exploits of the old drivers, but few remain to 
relate the story. (Searight, p. 183.) 



^ 



"THE CHARTEE OR SHURTEE 
SETTLEMENT" 



THE PRECURSOR OF THE TOWN 
OF CANONSBURG 



A brief account of its early settlers, whence they came, their 

political and religious affiliations and the part 

they played in the early history of 

South- Western Pennsylvania 



BY 



BLAINE EW^ING, ESQ. 

Read at the 

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 

CANONSBURG, WASHINGTON 

COUNTY, PENNA. 

JUNE 25, 1902 




BLAINE EWIXG, ESy. 




Address of Blaine Ewing, Esq. 

E celebrate, to-day, one hundred years of 
the incorporated history of the Borough 
of Canon sburg; and as we have to go 
back to its infancy, and hope to get 
some Hght on the reason of its exist- 
ence, let us look at its family genealogy 
as a Borough. 
If a child's training should begin one hundred years 
before it is born, — an axiom which recognizes the efifect 
of heredity as well as training and environment, — it cannot 
be foreign to our subject, to antedate the incorporation of 
the Borough and look at the general character of the 
country round about, prior to that incident. 

In these days much labor and time are spent in hunting 
up our family history in the efifort to learn who we are, 
and whence we came ; and while family pride may enter in- 
to the scheme, and inflate our ideas about our illustrious 
ancestry, it does little harm, if thereby, we collect and pre- 
serve the fast vanishing history of our early times. 

The educational history of our town and vicinity has 
been well and frequently written, and the clergy, with that 
unconscious assumption of superior usefulness, so com- 
monly seen, have carefully collected and amplified, not 
only the biography of the pioneer preachers, but every lit- 
tle incident of their lives. An instance of this mental atti- 
tude is shown in a phrase of Dr. McMillan's, characteristic 
of the whole literature, when in speaking of his students, 
he says, "Some of these became useful, and others eminent 
ministers of the Gospel." 



Address of Blaine Swing 



Perhaps my taking the side of the merely useful com- 
mon citizen, as against the eminent minister of the gospel, 
may be the survival of that spirit of combativeness, which 
has been so much commented on by our adversaries and 
distorted to our injury. 

The attempt then to depict our history, is not merely a 
desire to magnify the past, or bask in the reflected glory 
of the early pioneers, but such occasions as this are de- 
fensible on the broader ground, that they furnish the color 
and detail that give local history its chief charm. "'The 
early years of the time we celebrate are clustered all over 
with events which are not merely of curious interest, but 
of transcendent importance". "In them and their con- 
necting antecedents we must seek the foundations and 
builders of our social fabric." Judge Veech. Secular His- 
tory. 

In these latter days, the days of everything big, of 
world wide commerce and big combines ; the days of the 
huge aggregate, instead of the individual and his accom- 
plishments, these recitals may seem pitifully small and un- 
important, but like Paul to Titus we can say "Let no man 
despise thee" for in no section of the United States, New 
England not excepted, has there been more efficacious 
work done for humanity, than right here in Washington 
County, as originally formed, and in no part of the County, 
more than about the settlements adjacent to the congrega- 
tions of Dr. John McMillan and Dr. Mathew Henderson. 

In Washington County as then formed, was founded 
that second nursery of Scotch Irish Presbyterianism, (in 
imitation of that in the Cumberland Valley,) the source 
from whence they came originally ; though maybe by a 
circuitous route. 

Of them Tlieodore Roosevelt in his "Winning of the 
West"^ says "The back woodsmen of Pennsylvania had lit- 
tle in common with the peaceful population of the Quakers 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 123 



and Germans, who lived between the Delaware and Sus- 
quehanna ; and their near kinsmen of the Blue Ridge and 
the Great Smoky Mountains were separated by an equally 
wide gulf, from the aristocratic planter communities that 
flourished in the tide water regions of Virginia and the 
Carolinas. Near the coast the lines of division between the 
colonies correspond fairly well with the differences be- 
tween the population ; but after striking the foot-hills, 
though the political boundaries continued to run east and 
west, those both of ethnic and physical significance began 
to run north and south. 

The backv;oodsmen were Americans by birth and par- 
entage, and of a mixed race ; but the dominant strain in 
their blood was that of the Presbyterian Irish, the Scotch 
Irish as they were often called. Full credit has been 
awarded the Roundhead and the Cavalier for their leader- 
ship in history ; nor have we been altogether blind to the 
deeds of the Hollander and the Hugenot, but it is doubtful 
if we have wholly realized the importance of the part play- 
ed by that stern and virile people, the Irish, whose preach- 
ers taught the creed of Knox and Calvin. These Irish 
representatives of the Covenanters were in the West^ al- 
most what the Puritans were in the North-east, and more 
than the Cavaliers were in the South. Mingled with the 
descendents of many other places they nevertheless formed 
the distinctively and intensely American stock, who were 
the pioneers of our people in their march westward, and 
the vanguard of the army of fighting settlers, who, with 
the axe and rifle, won their way from the Alleghenies to 
the Rio Grande and the Pacific. 

The two facts of most importance to remember in deal- 
ing with our pioneer history are. First,— that the western 
portion of Virginia and the Carolinas were peopled by an 
entirely different stock, from that which had long existed 
in the tide water region of these colonies ; and secondly. 



124 Address of Blaine Ewing 



that except for those in the CaroHnas who came from 
Charleston, the immigrants of this stock were mostly from 
the north, from their great breeding ground and nursery 
in Western Pennsylvania." 

Who then are the people, the Scotch Irish, and whence 
did they come? If they have played so great a part in his- 
tory, have been able to maintain themselves distinct so 
long, and impress their more vigorous personnel on the 
people west of the Alleghenies ; to embrace and assimilate 
so many diverse elements, yet still, to retain in large meas- 
ures, their own characteristics, and in a word to dominate 
the section where they settled, — they must be worthy of 
some study. 

The Scotch-Irish Migration 

It is not my province to go back to the beginning of 
things, yet I cannot forbear a slight reference to the suc- 
cessive steps by which our ancestry was prepared for their 
country. "The first successful efforts to plant English 
Colonies in North America vv^ere within twenty-five years 
after 1600. These were in the North and South leaving 
the temperate latitude for further occupancy. Cotempor- 
aneous with these efforts was another scheme of coloniza- 
tion, conducted under the auspices of the same king, which 
has had a more salutary and enduring influence upon 
American character than any other, — the colonization of 
the Scotch in the North of Ireland. For us, at least, no 
two classes of widely separated events could have been 
better timed. The colonists in Ulster and their descend- 
ents, were for about a century, trained in religious faith 
and physical endurance, before their country became ready 
for their reception ; so that when they did come they were 
enabled to settle in controlling numbers, just where they 
would best develop their character and growth, and from 
which they could diflfuse themselves into other localities of 
strategic importance. ' ' Judge Veech's Secular History p. 289. 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 125 



"The first migration from Ulster to Pennsylvania — and 
it was to Pennsylvania that nearly all the immigrants came 
prior to the Revolution — was from 1717-1750," (ib. p. 294.) 
Though religious persecution had been much mitigated in 
England, yet landlords in Ulster, taking advantage of the 
prosperity that had attended the labors of the Scotch, up- 
on the expiration of the leases, raised the rents to such a 
figure that it was ruinous to many, and burdensome on all. 
To an American^ this may seem strange, but even to-day 
the land is held by but a few. "The north of Ireland is di- 
vided into the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Lon- 
donderry (formerly Coleraine), Tyrone, Monaghan, Done- 
gal, Fremanagh and Cavan. These nine counties comprise 
the ancient province of Ulster, which includes a fourth part 
of the island, or 8567 square miles of territory." At the 
census of 1881, one-third of Ulster was under cultivation, 
more than one-third in pasturage, and a little less than 
one-fourth classed as waste land, mountains and bogs, in 
all 5,321,580 acres. Of this area there were 22,000 own- 
ers, but of the whole area, 72% belonged to 477 people, 
and 40% of it or 2,088,170 acres was owned by only 95 per- 
sons. Hanna, The Scotch Irish p. 159. 

With such a proportion of the land in the hands of so 
few, even to-day, the renter can either pay what is de- 
manded or starve, if he be unable to do as our ancestors 
did, leave for a more favored clime. They had heard of the 
lands across the sea where toleration was greater, taxes 
light, and tithes unknown, and here they decided to emi- 
grate and found a "Church without a Bishop and a Com- 
monwealth without a King." 

"James Logan, the secretary and chief counsellor of 
the proprietary government, an Irish Quaker, wrote in 
1729, "It looks as if Ireland is to send all her inhabitants 
hither, for last week not less than six ships arrived, and 
every day two or three arrive also. The common fear is 



126 Address of Blaine Ewing 



if they continue to come they will make themselves pro- 
prietors of the province/' and another writer says that for 
several years prior to 1750, about 12,000 arrived annually. 
In September, 1736, one thousand families sailed for the 
Delaware from Belfast alone." Judge Veech, Secular His- 
tory p. 295^ They landed at Philadelphia and Wilming- 
ton; the latter place, the center of a circle that forms a 
part of the Southern boundary of Pennsylvania, the his- 
tory of which together with the line westward, is unique 
in the annals of state boundaries ; — and settled in a region 
bounded on the north by the towns of York, Columbia and 
Lancaster, and included within the peninsula formed by 
the Brandywine, Delaware and Susquehanna. Within this 
area, not greater than the Counties of Washington and Al- 
legheny, you will find the original nursery of the Scotch- 
Irish ; not the only one, but the center from which the peo- 
ple came to this county of ours, which in turn became a 
second nursery of the allied faiths of Presbyterianism. It 
held within its grasp the contiguous corners of three 
colonies, and there protected in a peculiar way, with great 
advantage for access and increase, as well as avenues of 
diffusion and egress, in all directions north, west and 
south, lived our ancestors of Chester, Lancaster and York 
Counties, Pennsylvania., New Castle County, Delaware, 
and Cecil County, Maryland. Judge Veech's Secular His- 
tory p. 289-293. 

In this section, as soon as settled, they not only built 
churches, but founded grammar schools, academies and 
schools of Divinity. There were not less than four notable 
schools in this region, from which the academies and log 
colleges of our county drew both their teachers and their 
inspiration. 

From Faggs-Manor, the school of Rev. John Blair, (in 
what is now Londonderry Township, Chester County), and 
the Academy at Pequea (situate in Salisbury Township, 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 127 



Lancaster County), came Dr. John McMillan and Rev. 
James Power, two of our pioneer preachers, and Rev. 
James Waddel, the blind preacher, immortalized in Wirt's 
"British Spy." 

West Nottingham in Cecil County, Maryland, near the 
Pennsylvania line, taught by Rev. Samuel Finley^ was one 
of the most celebrated schools in the middle colonies. 
From it came such men as Dr. Benjamin Rush and his 
brother, Judge Jacob Rush of Philadelphia, Col. John Bay- 
ard, and Gov. Henry of Maryland, Rev. Dr. John Ewing, 
the first Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and 
one of the Engineers to run Mason & Dixon line, and Rev. 
Joseph Smith, one of the pioneer preachers of our section 
as well as many others of note. (Futhey MMS.) 

State Ridge and Chanceford congregations in the 
southern part of York County, contributed some emment 
men to our section. The Hon. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, 
then a small child direct from Scotland, received here his 
primary education, later graduated at Princeton; studied 
theology and moved to Western Pennsylvania about 1781. 
He afterwards studied law, and rose in his profession to 
eminence, becoming a judge of the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania. He is remembered best perhaps as the his- 
torian of the Whiskey Insurrection. 

James Ross is descended from settlers in this congre- 
gation ; he became eminent for his talents and learning, 
and distinguished as an advocate and statesman. He was 
a member of the Pennsylvania State Convention to form a 
Constitution in 1790. Yet in a peculiar sense he belongs 
to Canonsburg, for he was the first teacher in McMillan's 
log college. Whether he was a fine Latin scholar or not, as 
asserted on one side and as vigorously denied on the other, 
I cannot say, but you can read up the voluminous evidence 
in the History of Jefferson College and decide for vour- 
self. 



128 Address of Blaine Ewing 



James Edgar of Cross Creek was another of the pioneers 
from the congregation of State Ridge. He was Associate 
Judge of Washington County in 1791 ; one of the original 
trustees of Jefferson College, and he and John Canon were 
the first representatives to the Supreme Executive Council 
from the new County of Washington. 

In order to show the environment and previous train- 
ing of our ancestors, I have thus briefly set out their dif- 
ferent migrations ; firsts from Scotland to Ireland, then af- 
ter about a century to their nursery between the Delaware 
and Susquehanna. 

Among the churches just mentioned, Dr. McMillan 
preached in the beginning of his missionary journey in 
1775, which culminated as far as we are concerned in the 
services hfid the "4th S. of August at John McDowell's 
on Shirtee." (Diary of Dr. McMillan.) 

The settlement of "Shurtee" or "Chartee" (as it was 
spelled phonetically in whatever way the writer chose) will 
be noticed as early as 1774. How many families it then 
contained, it is not in my power to say, but it is probable 
that Canon had already located his claim, and it is certain 
the middle and east prong of Chartiers contained a goodly 
number of scattered settlers. 

This is affirmed by the appointment of Canon to view 
a road from Gists in Fayette County (Mt. Braddock) to 
Paul Froman's on the East Fork of Chartiers, as mention- 
ed in the Records of Westmorland County in January, 
1774. Only a short time prior to this date, four years at 
most, a few scattered patches of corn, well trodden down 
by the buffalo and ravaged by the armies of squirrels and 
raccoons^ foreshadowed the coming of the sturdy pioneer ; 
or the deadened trees beside a spring, proclaimed that the 
tomahawk claimant had pre-empted the soil. 

But the settlements were not such as would be so called 
in this day. Up to the very door of the cabin stretched the 





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The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 129 



forest still and silent. In it, stealthily crept the dreaded 
Indian, whose coming no one could foreshadow, before he 
fell upon the homestead of the pioneer, who had invaded 
his domain, and in which forest when he had once vanished 
from view, no posse dare follow. How far it extended no 
man could tell. All they knew was that their most daring- 
hunters and adventures had found no end, but impenetra- 
ble and silent, it stretched away over hills and mountains 
in endless undulation, its shade so deep that the light of 
day scarce penetrated its southern slopes, until the leaves 
had fallen. 

Dr. Doddridge tells us that in his life time he had no- 
ticed marked changes in climate. When he first ventured 
into this section the snows lay long and deep amid the un- 
broken forests, and the summers were short and hot. 
With the first breath of spring, the season that brings such 
joy to the hearts of all in this day, the fathers and mothers 
of that day looked with a kind of terror on the trees as 
they clothed themselves in verdure, and deepened the gath- 
ering shadows of pathless woods. Then it was that the 
Indian chose his season of warfare and rapine. Then was 
the season of their scanty harvests, planted in fear, and 
worked in parties large enough to afiford a respectable 
fighting force, while the families huddled together in the 
stockades and forts, watched and waited for the return of 
the men. Not a single time did they open the gates of 
their forts in the morning without the fear that the savages 
were lying in ambush. Then the adventuresome pioneer 
who refused to Hsten to warnings, boasted that his crop of 
corn was better worked than that of his more circumspect 
neighbor, who retired within the fort at the first call of 
spring. If the savages had been seen in the neighbor- 
hood, runners were sent out in all directions. At night he 
came stealthily to the window or door, and gently rapped 
to awaken the sleepers. Constant fear taught our fore- 



130 Address of Blaine Ewing^ 



fathers to sleep lightly. A few whispered words exchanged, 
and he disappeared in the forest to warn the next cabin. 
All was then quick and silent preparation. No light dare 
be struck, not even to stir the fire, but dressing the chil- 
dren as quickly as possible, and praying that the baby 
would continue to sleep, — for his cry might mean destruc- 
tion, — they caught up a few articles in the dark and tak- 
ing the rifle from the peg, feared every shadow, while they 
stole off to the fort. The older children were so imbued 
with fear, that the mere name "Indian" whispered in their 
ears, made them mute. 

Thus does Dr. Doddridge, the best historian of his 
time, describe the early settlers. That he writes the truth, 
he challenges his contemporaries to deny, in whose recol- 
lection the scenes were still fresh; and while he is quoted 
by all historians of the times we celebrate, it is peculiarly 
true of our neighborhood here for he was one of the first 
pioneers of Washington County. 

il have heard similar scenes described and thought them 
imported into our history, and, by similarity of situation 
and coincidence in time, attributed to our situation here ; 
but find that the converse is the truth, as he is the source 
from which most of the historians of early times draw their 
pictures, and paint their manners and customs. He is al- 
most "to the manner born," cominghereasalittlechildand 
educated in the old stone Academy which Canon and Mc- 
Millan and Henderson founded. It is a relief to find that 
he was not a Presbyterian. 

The First Settlement 
When the first settlement was made in Washington 
County, is too difficult a question to settle here, even if it 
were possible. As, however, it was the policy of both the 
Pennsylvania and Virginia colonies to prohibit settlements 
on the Indian lands before the title was purchased from 
them, there could have been no legal settlement here prior 
to the treaty of Fort Stanwix on November 5th, 1768. 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 131 



That picturesque little army of scientists, axmen, and 
laborers, with their fourteen Indian warriors as guides^ en- 
gaged in running Mason & Dixon's line, reached the Mo- 
nongahela River on the 27th of September, 1767. When 
they had crossed it, and pressed through the wilderness 
as far as the second crossing of Dunkard's Creek, where 
the Old Catawba war path crosses, the Indians halted 
there, and announced that they were instructed by their 
chiefs, not to allow the line to cross that path ; and there 
it rested for about fifteen years. Taking that as a basis, 
and following the meanders of the Delaware as our west- 
ern boundary (and it appears that Penn never thought of 
a straight one), most of Washington County would be 
thrown into Virginia, 

At this time, Fayette County had a considerable num- 
ber of settlers. Penn issued a proclamation and had the 
Assembly pass a law on February 3rd, 1768, inflicting 
death without "Benefit of Clergy" on those disorderly set- 
tlers who had settled on the Indian lands prior to their 
purchase, or who refused to move when warned away, or 
returned after such warning. While this fulmination terri- 
fied the inhabitants of "Old Fiaf for awhile, the alarm 
soon subsided, when a delegation of Indians from the 
Mingo settlement, hearing that commissioners had come 
to warn away the settlers, heard all they had to say and 
then told the white man to "stay till the treaty". Though 
the Six Nations continued to complain of the intrusion of 
the white man on their hunting grounds, yet when George 
Croghan, had assembled his council at Pittsburg, in April 
of the same year, and as a result, the commissioners asked 
for representative Indians to accompany them among the 
settlers and warn them off, they flatly refused, Guyasutha 
very justly suggesting, that Penn would soon buy the land 
from the Six Nations (as he did at the treaty of Fort Stan- 
wix), and that they did not want to alienate the settlers. 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 133 



settlers, and if we had access to the Virginia Land office 
files, I have no doubt, many others, even in the vicinity of 
Canonsburg, could be enumerated. 

The antipathy between the Scotch Irish and Quakers 
may be further accounted for, by their aggressive likes and 
dislikes. For the Quakers, the Scotch Irish had an intense 
contempt. "The fundamental principle of the Quakers re- 
ligion was what they called the universal light, or the in- 
ward light. It was a feeling, they said, given to every 
man, born into the world, and was sufficient to guide him 
to all religious truth, and save his soul." It was not iden- 
tical with conscience, but given to enlighten it ; and to 
bring this inward light to perfection, all strife, worldly am- 
bition, exciting sports, discussion of politics, and pursuit of 
war should be avoided, and the soul cultivated by stillness, 
and quiet reflection on God, till it brought itself into His 
likeness. They were also adherents of the doctrine of per- 
fectionism, rejected all sacrament, and believed in present 
day revelations, of equal authority with the old, Fisher, 
Making of Pennsylvania, 43. 

When you contrast with this, the original sin and total 
depravity Presbyterian, educated to political discussion, 
religious controversy and war ; quick to revenge an insult 
and fight for his rights ; despising the Quaker for his solici- 
tude for the Indian on the one hand, and on the other his 
total failure to protect the white man (who had to fight for 
his existence with the actual savage, in all the unmention- 
able cruelty of Indian forays, and who held no picturesque 
illusions in regard to him, engendered by a safe distance 
with mountain ranges intervening), when, I say, you con- 
sider the fundamental differences of thought, religion and 
conduct, it is little wonder that there was small foundation 
for mutual respect. 

The Scotch Irish were blind to any good in the Quak- 
ers except their religious toleration, which they thought 



124 Address of Blaine Ewing 



arose from their policy of non-resistence ; and the Quaker, 
when forced to enter into the active administration of af- 
fairs, contrary to the strict tenets of his rehgion, if he did 
not admire his pugnacious backwoods subject, was at least 
willing to concede his value when a fight was on hand ; and 
of these they had a superabundance. All these many 
causes, combined to convince the inhabitants of this sec- 
tion, that they were under the jurisdiction of Virginia. 

Westmoreland County was established on February 
26th, 1773, and, that which afterwards became Washington 
County, was divided into two townships, Pitts and Spring- 
hill. Pitt being the most northerly and including all north 
of a line run westwardly from the present site of Browns- 
ville to the western boundary of the Province ; thus includ- 
ing most of Washington as now formed, all of Allegheny, 
and part of Beaver. 

In Mr. Cumrine's History is found one of the first peti- 
tions for roads in this section, October Sessions, 1773. 
"Upon Petition of Divers Inhabitants of the Township of 
Pitt in the County of Westmoreland, humbly showeth; 
that whereas your petitioners together with a number of 
other inhabitants of the Township aforesaid, labor under 
great difficulties and disadvantages for want of a public 
road, leading from the south-west side of the Monongahela 
river, opposite the Town of Pittsburgh, by Dr. Edward 
Hand's land on Chartiers, to the settlements on said creek, 
supposed to be at or near the western boundary of the 
Province of Pennsylvania, etc. . ." These settlements were 
doubtless the Chartiers settlements referred to previously 
and to be mentioned hereafter. If Pennsylvania's most 
western county had no more definite idea of its extent 
than this, we can easily see that the inhabitants in gen- 
eral must have been at sea completely. It being there- 
fore a matter of doubt where Pennsylvania ended and 
Virginia began, the settlers here having no love for 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 135 



the government of Pennsylvania, and the prices of land 
being much higher here than in the neighboring Colony 
of Virginia, seem to have chosen the latter in pretty 
large numbers. 

Penn^s line (run in 1767, to a point on Duncard Creek 
in what is now Greene County), showed that if the me- 
anders of the Delaware river were followed on the west^ 
that the line would fall only about six miles west of Pitts- 
burgh. But when the Earl of Dunmore began to covet 
the allegiance of the settlers about the head waters of the 
Ohio, he repudiated even the accuracy of these measure- 
ments, and sent his emissary. Dr. Connolly, to Pittsburgh, 
of which he took possession in January of 1774. Then be- 
gan a veritable reign of terror caused by the white man, in 
the contending jurisdictions of the two colonies. Then 
followed arrests and counter arrests, violence and militia 
musters, threats and protests. When the loyal adherents 
of the Pennsylvania jurisdiction, appealed to their officers 
for protection, Connolly arrested, not only the complain- 
ant, but the officer also ; and sometimes in addition to 
threats and abuses, pulled down a few houses around the 
ears of the inhabitants, as a mark of tender regard and so- 
licitude for his subjects. He headed a band of retainers 
against Hannastown ; liberated the prisoners there, and in 
the pleasant little speeches made on that occasion, one 
Vance, told the Sheriff of Westmoreland County that he 
would be arrested, "and that he had positive orders if any 
person tried to arrest them under Pennsylvania warrants, 
to shoot them, and he would do it." 4th American Ar- 
chives, Page 1272. 

A letter written by Joseph Spear, February 23, 1774, a 
trader at Pittsburgh, informed St. Clair, that the Vir- 
ginians had held several musters up the Monongahela late- 
ly, "One at Redstone Old Fort, and one yesterday at 
Paul Froman's, on the other side of the Monongahela" on 
the East Branch of the Chartiers Creek, and one at Pente- 



136 Address of Blaine Ewing 



cost's own house. In consequence of which Pentecost 
warned Mr. Swearingen not to serve any longer as a 
Pennsylvania Magistrate, at his peril. 

On March 30th, 1774^ a party from "Chartee Settle- 
ment" joined the Doctor at Pittsburgh, and in aid of his 
designs, lent him countenance, while he informed the 
Pennsylvania magistrates that he had the full support of 
Dunmore,who applauded him for his firmness in resistance 
of the Pennsylvania government, particularly his refusal 
to give bail when arrested. American Archives, 4 Ser. 
Vol. I, p. 269. 

To trace all the various acts by which the Virginians 
asserted their authority would be impossible here. They 
precipitated a war with the savages, which was openly 
sought by Connolly, for he says in a letter, in July 19th, 
1774, to St. Clair, who had counselled moderation, "I am 
determined no longer to be a dupe to their amicable pro- 
fessions, but on the contrary, shall pursue every measure 
to offend them." Amer. Arch. Series 4, Vol. i ; p. 678. 

The same Dr. Connolly, writing to the Lord Dun- 
more, March 24th, 1774, after a fullsome address, says, 
"you have it now in your power, my Lord, to render the 
name of Dunmore, as memorable in Virginia as that of 
Marlborough in Great Britain. Do not let the opportunity 
slip." American Archives ; Ser. 4 ; Vol. i ; Page 278. How 
he preceded to do it is a matter of history. Connolly in 
pursuance of his plan of afifronting the Indians, tried to 
arrest the friendly Shawanees, who piloted traders into 
Pittsburgh and protected them from the Mingos en route. 
Letters of Arthur St. Clair, Amer. Arch. Vol. i, p. 474. 

Mr. Butler was a trader who seems to have sided with 
Pennsylvania. Michael Cresap *attached his canoes about 
90 miles below Pittsburgh, and on April 24th, 1774, killed 
and scalped the two Indian guides, and then attacked the 
Shawaneese chiefs. About the same time a party headed 

* This charge has been vigorously denied by one of his officers and ardent 
admirers, who afterwards married his widow. 








5l" 


^" 





-^C^-^ I: 



,\j ^ 






THE CHURCHES OF CANONSBURG 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 137 



by Greathouse, treacherously murdered and then scalped, 
nine Indians at the Baker's near Yellow Creek. As a re- 
sult the inhabitants of Raccoon and Wheeling Creek fled 
from the settlements. Amer. Archives, Ser. 4; Vol. i ; page 
468. Letter of Devereux Smith. That this would provoke 
retaliation was well understood, and not until Logan had 
returned with 13 scalps was he satisfied for the loss of his 
relations, and justly laying the blame where it belonged, 
said, "that he would sit still until he heard what the long 
knife (the Virginians) would say." Amer. Archives ; Vol. 
I ; p. 456, Vol. I, 474. 

On June 20th, 1774, Dunmore advises sending Capt. 
Wm. Crawford against the Indians, and let the cat out of 
the bag still further when he adds, "I would recommend it 
to all officers going out on parties, to make as many pris- 
oners as they can, of women and children, and should you 
be so fortunate as to reduce those savages to sue for 
peace, I would not grant it to them on any terms, till they 
were effectually chastised for their insolence^ and then on 
no terms without bringing in six of their heads, as host- 
ages, for their future good behavior, and these to be re- 
lieved annually, and that they trade with us only for what 
they want." Amer. Archives Series 4, Vol i, page 473. 

Here is the solution of the whole matter. The attempt- 
ed arrests of friendly Indians, — who were piloting white 
men, who were Pennsylvania's adherents to safety ; — the 
instigations of forays such as Logan's, so that retaliation 
could be disguised as a war of defence ; and Connolly^s 
subsequent ignominious arrest and detention, all show 
how he duped the people of Washington County, and how 
bitterly they suffered long after his removal, by the Indian 
massacres in retaliation for his misdeeds. Truly "the evil 
that men do lives after them". 

But what as to Dunmore. To add to the double dam- 
nation of Lord Dunmore in the eyes of his former subjects, 



138 Address of Blaine Ewing 



I will only add, that when "menaced by one branch of the 
legislature and abandoned by the other," he had fled on 
board a British man of war, in the Chesapeake ; accused of 
trying to incite the negroes in Virginia to rise and massa- 
cre their masters, his vindication fails so utterly. For in a 
letter from the Earl of Dartmouth, to Lord Dunmore, dat- 
ed August 2nd, 177s, we read as follows, "My Lord, the 
hope you held out to us in your letter of May ist, that 
you should be able to collect among the Indians, negroes 
and other persons, a force sufficient, if not to subdue the 
rebellion, at least to defend the government, was encour- 
aging ; but I find by your letters, delivered to me by Lieu- 
tenant Collins^ that you have been obliged from the vio- 
lence of the times, menaced by one branch of the legisla- 
ture, and abandoned by the other, to yield up all the pow- 
ers of Government and retire yourself on board the 
Fowey." Amer. Archives, Ser. 4; Vol. 3 ; page 6. 

•' The Chartee or Shirtee Settlements " 

The "Chartee or Shirtee Settlements" before mention- 
ed, can now be examined more carefully. When Doctor 
McMillan, after his first missionary visit here, in August 
of 1775, had decided to come to this country, he bought a 
farm. As the recitals in old deeds are good evidence, I give 
the way they locate his land and describe the parties. The 
deed is dated September 9th, 1777, "Know all men by 
these presents, that we Michael Thomas and Thomas 
Cook of Shirtee's Settlement, in the County of Youghio- 
gheny and Commonwealth of Virginia, Farmers, for and 
in consideration of the sum of one hundred ninety-five 
pounds fifteen shillings and six pence current lawful money 
of the State of Pennsylvania, to us in hand well and truly 
paid by John McDowell Esq., of the Settlement, County 
and Commonwealth aforesaid. Trustee, Agent and Attor- 
ney in fact, to John McMillan, Clergyman (?) of Faggs' 
Mannour and Chester County in the State above said for 
and on behalf of said John McMillan * * * * grant, bargain 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 139 



and sell, etc., all our right, title, claim, etc., of, in and to a 
certain tract of land late the property of Thomas Cook 
aforesaid, and now in the possession^ tenure and occupa- 
tion of the aforesaid Michael Thomas, situate, lying and 
being in the Settlement, County and Commonwealth afore- 
said, on the western side of the eastern prong of Shirtee's 
Creek. Bounded on the south by lands of Paul Froman, on 
the west by those of Samuel Shannon, on the north by 
those of Doctor Morgan and on the east by the prong 
aforesaid and containing^ as by the platt may more fully 
appear, three hundred and thirteen acres and four tenths." 

You will not fail to notice the location of the Shirtee 
Settlement, nor the fact that it is put in Virginia. This 
deed was recorded in Youghiogheny County Court on 
March 24, 1778, Dorsey Pentecost, being clerk. 

The Shirtee Settlement was perhaps a vague term, as to 
boundary, but I think the centre of at least an influential 
branch, if not its Capital, was the region around what is 
now the town of Linden, North Strabane Township, near 
which was Paul Froman's Mill. The influence of this pow- 
erful settlement, whose inhabitants very naturally were ad- 
herents of the jurisdiction of Virginia, is plainly manifested 
in many ways. 

The first owner of the Mill was Paul Froman. He was 
also the patentee of about 1700 acres of land in that sec- 
tion. The Mill afterwards became the property of Dorsey 
Pentecost and finally that of Walter Buchanan, who 
moved from Canonsburg to it about 1806. Both Frohman 
& Pentecost succeeded in making it the nucleus of most 
of the roads in this part of the country, and it does not 
seem a far-fetched conclusion — that they hoped to make 
it the future county seat ; when a new county should be 
organized. 

Mr. Crumrine, in his history, prints a part of the records 
of the Court of West Augusta and Youghiogheny Coun- 



140 Address of Blaine Ewing 



ties, Virginia, in which we see that many roads led to it ; 
it had road viewers and supervisors in plenty ; and grand 
jurors and justices in abundance. 

There was already a road from Gist's in Fayatte 
County to Ft. Dunmore (as Pittsburg was then called) ; to 
connect with it, another was viewed crossing the River at 
James Devore's Ferry (Mbnongahela) and thence ''to Paul 
Froman's on Shirtees Creek" ; and to show they were 
prompt, this was done the first day the Court sat. 

On the 23rd of February, 1775, the next day, a road 
view is ordered from "Thomas Gist's to Paul Froman's 
Mill on Shirtees Creek", and another from Redstone Old 
Fort (Brownsville) to the same Mill. And the viewers 
from this section were Paul Froman, Thos. Edgerton, Na- 
thaniel Blackmore and James Innis. 

For the protection of the cattle, there were brands or 
ear marks recorded in Court. John Canon early records 
his, "A crop in the right ear, and a half crop in the left". 
He had become a member of the Court the day before. 

May 1 6th, 1775, on motion of Capt. Paul Froman, it is 
ordered that James Innis (a surveyor), Thomas Edgerton 
and John Munn "view the most convenient way from Fro- 
man's Mill on Shirtees Creek to Froman's Mill on the east 
side of the Monongahela." 

September 22nd, 1775, Catfish Camp secures a road to 
Providence Mounce's Mill on the Youghiogheny, and it 
became the duty of Evan Williams to keep it in order from 
Pigeon Creek to the east fork of "Churtees Creek", and 
that of Garret Van Emen thence to Catfish. 

On April 17th, 1776, "Solomon Froman is appointed 
constable in room of Nathaniel Blackmore, and it is or- 
dered that he be summoned before Mr. John Canon to be 
sworn into said office." 

On the same day, the viewers report in favor of the 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 141 



road from the east fork to Froman's Mill on the Mononga- 
hela, and John Munn is made surveyor of this end of it. 

The District of West Augusta, having ceased to exist 
in October^ 1776, by its subdivision into the Counties of 
Yohogania, Ohio and Monongalia, a new order goes into 
effect. Yohogania embraced almost all of Washington, (as 
it now is). 

At the first sessions of the new County Court, John 
Canon receives his title as Colonel of Militia. 

It proceeded to lay out more roads centering at Fro- 
man's Mill ; appointed Justices of the Peace, Constables 
and JRoad Viewers, and divided the entire County into dis- 
tricts, in which some one was appointed to take a tour and 
tender the oath of allegiance and fidelity to the State of 
Virginia, to all free male inhabitants within the same. John 
McDowell's district extended from the mouth of the east 
fork of Chartiers, to the head waters of Peter's Creek, and 
thence south along the east side of Chartiers Creek to the 
south bounds of the county beyond Washington; and 
Andrew Swearingen took the west side of the Creek from 
Houstonville to the head waters of Cross Creek and thence 
south to a similar point. 

This old Virginia Court had to punish for contempt as 
well as other Courts in later days. "Robert Hamilton, a 
prisoner in the Sherifif's custody, came into Court and in 
the grocest and most imperlite manner, insulted the Court, 
and Richard Yeates in particular : ordered that the Sherifif 
confine the feet of the said Robert Hamilton in the lower 
rails of the fence for the space of five minutes." 

Froman in 1777, sold his mill to Dorsey Pentecost, but 
the east ork of "Charteers" seems to continue a Mecca 
for roads for another is ordered from the Court House 
east of the Monongahela crossing Peter's Creek to this 
Mill, which was soon opened. 

But Catfish Camp had hard work to get its road to this 



142 Address of Blaine Ewing^ 



Mill, for in 1778, though formerly applied for by Richard 
Yeates, it was found necessary to attach the viewers for 
contempt, among them James Allison and Henry Taylor, 
the ancestors of Judge Taylor and Jonathan Allison. 

David Phillips and others wanted another road to Pen- 
tecost's Mill, and had a view from thence to the present 
site of McKeesport. 

John Munn (of Munntown) at the same Court is li- 
censed to keep an "Ordinary" or Tavern, and doubtless 
conformed to the rules of Court in charging a shilling for 
one-half pint of whiskey, with the addition of six pence for 
making it into a "tody", or one shilling nine pence for a 
hot breakfast ; while "Lodging with Clean Sheets per 
Nighf cost only six pence. 

Samuel Cook condemned land on Brusky Run to build 
a Mill, in 1778; and Nicholas Peas the following year on 
Chartiers. 

These references to the "Shurtees Settlement" have 
been made, not to weary the listeners, but to show the in" 
fluence exerted from 1774 to 1780 by this settlement in the 
Courts of Virginia, and because it shows indisputable evi- 
dence that such men as Paul Froman, Dorsey Pentecost, 
John Canon, Matthew Ritchie, Joshua Wright and John 
McDowell lived here. All of which sat as Justices of the 
Court except the first. 

As Justice of the Peace from the other side of Char- 
tiers, we see the names of James Scott and John Reed, 
both of Miller's Run; as early as 1779 and though a little 
further south than our immediate vicinity, we mention 
James Edgar and Henry Taylor. 

As road viewers, we find the names of Thomas Cook, 
who sold Dr. McMillan his home farm ; and James Innis 
who surveyed it, John Munn of Munntown, and Thomas 
Edgerton ; mention is made of others that locates Evan 
Williams on Pigeon Creek ; Garret Van Emen near the 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 143 



mouth of the east fork of Chartiers ; Samuel Cook on 
Brush Run ; David Phillips in Cecil Township ; and James 
Allison in Chartiers; and Nathaniel Blackmore, John 
Crow, John McMillan, Henry Johnston, John McDowell, 
John Paramour and Thomas Rankin, all in North Stra- 
bane Township. The names cited include only a small pro- 
portion of the inhabitants ; they merely fix a few of them in 
such locations that there can be no mistake. There were 
many other families named, which I feel sure belonged in 
the vicinity, but it was only occasionally that one was 
designated by his locality in such a way as to make his lo- 
cation beyond dispute. 

In that day, as well as this, only a small proportion of 
the names of the inhabitants appeared on the Court 
records, and in each of the road views mentioned, the tith- 
ables within three miles on each side of the proposed 
roads^ were ordered to work on it, showing the presence 
of a pretty considerable population. 

Having considered the "Chartee" or "Shirtee" Settle- 
ment and shown its existence as early as 1774, in sufficient 
numbers to be a decided factor in politics, let us turn our 
attention to Canonsburg. 

Canon's Mill 

The earliest mention I can find of a mill here is in 
Washington County records, where at the first term of 
Court, beginning October 2nd^ 1781, viewers were appoint- 
ed to view a road from "John Cannon, his mill, to Pitts- 
burgh-" 

Had a mill existed here prior to that time, under the 
Virginia regime, it is not probable that John Canon, sit- 
ting as one of the Justices of that Court, and seeing many 
views to the Froman Mill on the east branch of Chartiers, 
and afterwards to the same mill, when sold to Dorsey Pen- 
tecost, would have forgotten to divert some attention to 
his own property. 



144 Address of Blaine Ewing 



However, Canon was not remiss in urging his claims 
for recognition, when he once got started. He tried to 
have the County Seat located here, and had so far suc- 
ceeded as to call forth an indignant protest from David 
Hoge, in a letter to the Supreme Executive Council, in 
November, 1781, in which he hints that he had heard, that 
a gentleman who would shortly appear as a member of 
that body, "had used his schemes to have the Court House 
and town on his own land about eight miles distant from 
the place where the trustees agreed on," viz. Catfish, and 
suggesting, that, if Canon used his influence to prevent the 
council from giving their approbation to the selection that 
the trustees had made, that their prudent attention, if such 
a thing should be attempted, would be gratefully acknowl- 
edged by their most obedient servant, David Hoge. Wash- 
ington County Courts of Justice p. 217. 

The location of Canon's house and mill is shown in a 
curious way. 

A road to Jacob Bausman's Ferry opposite Pittsburgh 
was reported in June of 1784, and ordered to be opened 
thirty-three feet wide. On the map showing its courses 
and distances, both the house of John Canon and General 
Neville are shown, and as they both were viewers and 
signed the order filed with the plot, it is not probable that 
they would sanction a false location for either house. This 
plot may throw some light on a locally disputed question, 
as to the site of John Canon's House. 

The authority to grant roads having been for some 
time now vested at Washington, instead of the east fork 
of Chartiers having its own way undisputed, the County 
seat seems to have been somewhat jealous of our Found- 
er's influence, for at No. 6 September Sessions of 1784, we 
find the following curious record : — "To the Worshipful 
Court of Washington County now sitting, The petition 
of a number of the inhabitants of Strabane Township hum- 




1/ 5 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 145 



bly showeth; your petitioners being well assured from the 
Great Care taken by your Worships, respecting Laying 
out of Roads for the Benefit of the Public at Large,and al- 
so to prevent too Great a Number therof: Consider our 
property and Personal Services Secure from the Imposi- 
tion of Individuals, it was therefore resolved by the said 
Court that all Petitions for by-roads should be laid over 
until the principale Roads should be Laid off, also that all 
Subsequent Petitions for New Roads should not be ad- 
mitted of, unless setting ofif at a Reasonable Distance from 
the principale Roads ; it was also Resolved by the Sd 
Court that the Following principal Roads Should be Suf- 
ficient, viz : One from the town of Washington to Pitts- 
burg ; Second, from the sd town toward - Wheeling ; 
thirdly. One Leading (from) sd town to Redstone Old 
Fort ; forthly ; one towards the forks of Ten Mile Creek ; 
fifthly, one leading Lyndlys Mill and. Sixthly, One towards 
Mingo bottom ; Seventhly one toward baker's or Pardon's 
Bottom ; Eighthly, One towards Devores Ferry : yet not 
with standing that Great Care your petitioners find that 
John Canori= Esqr., has some years agoe obtained an order 
from Sd Court for the viewing of a publick Road from 
the said town of Washington to his mill, and have some 
Resons to believe that the Sd Return will be ofifered to 
the Sd Court for Confirmation, we your humble Peti- 
tioners, Conceive that the Sd Road as it is now Laid out, 
to be unnecessary because it runs the Greatest part of the 
way parallel with the Pittsburgh Road, and about three 
quarters of a mile Distant, also that it is near seven miles 
Distance from Sd Mill to Sd town, and that it is only 
Six Miles from sd town to Mr. McMullen's Meeting, 
hous, and but one mile from Sd Meeting house to Can- 
non's Mill ; therefore as the Public Can Receive no benefit, 
nor Individuals any great Damage by not granting Said 
Road, we therefore pray that the sd return may not be 



146 Address of Blaine Ewing 



confirmed, as it now stands_, and your Pet., etc., will be 
in Duty bound to pray." 

The above is signed by about sixty subscribers, but the 
ink has so far faded that I could only make out a few 
names, among which, however, are Nathaniel White, 
Samuel Pollock, John White, Hugh Cotton, John Munel, 
David Parkeson, Isaac Leet and Jonathan Leet. 

This road had many vicissitudes before it was allowed 
to rest. It was applied for by the citizens of Cecil and 
Strabane Townships, who as usual, allege the inconven- 
ience under which they labor for want of it. 

It was reviewed in 1786 and reported on favorably by a 
Board, three of whom were John Dodd, James Allison and 
Craig Ritchie, and in the following year, another view was 
made in which, although it was admitted to be the best 
route, two of the viewers thought it too near the one al" 
ready existing. 

The First Plot of Canonsburg 
Two years later, April 15, 1788, Canon laid out the first 
plan of the town. It shows the mill in the present location, 
and the names of purchasers were inserted on the various 
lots. 

It was proved, after his death, on the oath of James 
McCready, one of the subscribing witnesses to the agree- 
ment thereto attached, and recorded January 24, 1800. 

Though recorded as a plan of the tovvn, more properly 
speaking it was a guarantee on the part of the proprietor 
to convey the land when a patent was issued which was 
not done until the 27th day of March 1793. The delay may 
be partly accounted for by the following: At a special 
meeting of the Board of Property 30th Aug. 1790, "J^'^'^cs 
Allison Esq., on oath declared that the two tracts called 
'Sugar Grove' and 'Canonhill' for which John Canon ap- 
plies for Patents, do not interfere with the land in dispute 
between said Canon & John Boys. Therefore Patents are 
allov^^ed." Pa. Archives Series 3, Vol. i. Page 709. 



PLAN or TOWN 
JOHN CANON 

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The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 147 



Endorsed on the plot in the following agreement : 
"The above is a Draught of a town laid ofT as above up- 
on Chartiers Creek, Washington County by the subscriber, 
John Canon, who hereby binds himself, his heirs, Adminis- 
trators and assigns to fulfill and perform the following Ar- 
ticle, viz., agreeable to the conditions inserted on the above 
plan, to those who have all as those who may become pur- 
chasers to convey to them, their heirs and assigns, their 
respective lots of ground, in which their names is inserted, 
the Inhabitants of the above Town to have privilege of 
Cutting and using underwood and taking coal for their 
own use, forever, gratis the purchasers to pay the said 
Canon three pounds purchase and one Dollar Annually, 
forever, afterwards, and to build a stone, frame and hew- 
ed log house at least twenty feet in front, with a Stone or 
brick chimney within two years from the date of their 
purchase it is to be understood by underwood that it is 
only timber or wood that is laying down upon the 
Ground and only in land or woods that is not inclosed, 
they shall not presume to go and take wood for lire with- 
in any enclosure without leave first asked and obtained, 
a convenient road to be allowed to the coal bank near 
John Laughlins' the road to be only as laid ofif above 
and the bank as Described above. In Testimony where- 
of I have hereunto sett my hand and seal this 15th 
April, 1788. 



JOHN CANON (Seal) 



Attest : 

James McCready 
Robert Bowland 



Washington | 
County j ^^ • 
Before the undersigned one of the Judges of the Court 
of Common Pleas in and for the County aforesaid person- 
ally appeared James McCready one of the Witnesses to 



148 Address of Blaine Ewing 



the within Article or Conveyance who being duely sworn 
declared he was a witness to the Said Article or Convey- 
ance and signed his name as suqh, and that he saw John 
Canon sign his name to the within article or conveyance 
and put his name thereto Sworn and Subscribed before 
me this twenty-third of January, 1800. 

JAMES McCREADY JAMES ALLISON. 

Recorded and compared with the original the 24th day 
of January A. D. 1800. 

SAMUEL CLARKE, Recorder. 

See Records of Washington County, Deed Book P. 
page 441, 

At the date of the original plot Dr. Thompson was the 
owner of No. 3 on the west side of Central Avenue, and 
north of him, came in regular order, Daniel McCoy, James 
Morrison, David Gault and Donald Cameron, which brings 
us to Collesfe Street; North of that Andrew Munroe and 
John Todd own all the land except two lots, to Pitt Street. 
On the east side of Central Avenue and beginning at Wa- 
ter Street, the first lot is unsold, then in regular order 
came Robert Bowland, the miller, Capt. Craig Ritchie, Col. 
Matthew Ritchie, William Marshall and ending at College 
Street, Abraham De Haven. 

Roads are shown to Mr. Smith's Meeting House on 
Buffalo ; to Dr. McMillan's Meeting House and to Gam- 
ble's Mill from the lower side of town ; and to Well's Mill 
on Cross Creek, and Pittsburgh from the top of the hill. 

In the early part of 1795, Canon began to deed the lots 
rapidly to the owners, many of whom held agreements to 
convey from him, a few of which were recorded. In that 
of Craig Ritchie, dated Feb. 6th, 1788, it is agreed to con- 




REV. ROBERT PATTERSON 

THE FIRST STUDENT OF CANONSBURG ACADEMY, JULY 

I79I. BORN APRIL I, 1773 AT STILLWATER, 

N. Y. DIED SEPTEMBER 5, 1854. 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 149 



vey a certain lot held by John Canon under Virginia Cer- 
tificate. It is highly probable that many of these people 
had been living on the lots for a considerable time when 
they got their deeds in 1795. The above agreement de- 
scribes the lot as beginning at Craig Ritchie's House. 

Canonsburg Academy 

Of all these deeds, there stands out one which has 
brought him more fame than all the others. The credit of 
the Act has been largely obscured by the local historians, 
not that I would detract from the sacrifice endured by the 
Professors and contributors to the "Academy and Library 
Company," but to ofifer this long delayed tribute to the 
man who furnished the sinews of war, who gave the lot 
and built the College, when all the rest were too poor to 
do it. He gave the lot upon which the old Stone College 
stood, not the colleges as they now stand, but on the other 
side of the street and further up the hill, where the west 
ward Public Schools are situated. 

Plere^s to thee, old John Canon, Colonel of the back- 
woods Militia ! 

Of that first academy, there were two students, Wil- 
liam Riddle and Robert Patterson ; and by a remarkable^ 
as well as fortunate conjunction of circumstances, we can 
look upon a photograph of one of them, who recited the 
first lesson under the sassafras bushes, in the corner of a 
worm fence ; and add his account of the founding of that 
famous institution. 

When you remember that Daguerre did not write his 
account of his discoveries in photography, until 1S39, the 
picture of a man, who, if living to-day, would probably be 
129 years old, is quite a curiosity and his account of the 
founding of the famous Academy being that of an eye wit" 
ness, is doubly interesting. 

The following account of the founding of the Academy 
and Library Company, afterwards Jefiferson College, is 
taken from the History of Jefiferson College, page 25. 



150 Address of Blaine Ewing 



"It appears that in July, 1791, it was settled at a con- 
ference of citizens and ministers, numerously attended, 
that the incipient steps should be taken^ for getting the 
Academy under way. Col. Canon made a donation of a 
lot for the erection of a suitable building. He undertook 
to put up immediately, a large stone edifice, and have it 
prepared as soon as possible ; his expenses to be reim- 
bursed afterwards, as the trustes might be able to provide. 
In the meantime it was thought proper to open the 
Academy at once, on the ensuing day. The Rev. Robert 
Patterson's account of the proceedings of that day is so 
graphic and life-like, that we shall let him tell the story : 
"An appointment was made to met the next day, Tues- 
day, 10 o'clock A. M., in a small English school house, 
near Canon's mill, about half a mile from the village ; and 
a general invitation was given to all friends of learning 
and of their country, to attend ; and then and there to see 
the Canonsburg Academy opened. Meantime^ Mir. David 
Johnston, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, 
who had, without success, ben trying to open a Latin 
school in the town of Washington, was invited to attend, 
and take charge of the young Academy. At 10 o'clock on 
Tuesday morning, many citizens were present on the 
ground, to witness the opening of the first academy on the 
west side of the Allegheny Mountains. Of the inhabitants 
and vicinity, there were present, Judges McDowell and 
Alison, Craig Ritchie, Esq., and Rev. Matthew Hender- 
son, living at a few miles distance. Mr. Henderson was a 
Scotch Seceder clergyman, blessed with Scotch talents, 
Scotch education, Scotch theology, and Scotch piety ; his 
memory is still highly cherished, as a worthy cotemporary 
of Messrs. McMillan and Smith. These three ministers 
with Ad^r. Johnston and two pupils, William Riddle and 
Robert Patterson, who had recited a few lesson to Abra- 
ham Scott, took their position under the shade of some 



The Chartee or Shurtae Settlement 151 



sassafras bushes, growing in a worm fence, near the Eng- 
Hsh school house, which could not be vacated for a short 
time. And here, under the pleasant shade of the green 
bushes, protected from the rays of a July sun, (corona 
populi parva circumstante,) the two pupils, with 'Corderii 
Colloquia' in their hands were just about to read 'Quid 
agis,' when Mr. McMillan addressing his two brethren, 
and the small assembly, remarked in substance as fol- 
lows : 'This is an important day in our history, affecting 
deeply the interests of the church, and of the country in 
the West ; affecting our own interests for time and for 
eternity, and the interests it may be of thousands and 
thousands yet unborn.' And, turning to Mr. Henderson, 
asked him to engage in prayer, seeking the blessings of 
God on the institution now to be opened. And I must say, 
the broad vernacular pronunciation of the Scotch never 
could be more delightful and impressive than it was then; 
while everything proper to the occasion appeared to be 
remembered in prayer, by this good man. The first lesson 
in the Academy was soon recited. Robert Patterson, be- 
mg the senior, led, beginning the first sentence as above, 
'Quid agis'. After a short lesson was recited, and before 
they were dismissed, Mr. McMillan requested Mr. Smith 
to close the exercise with prayer. Mr. Smith, in conclu- 
sion, was as solemn and appropriate as Mr. Henderson 
had been in the beginning; and the little assembly retired 
much gratified, and with high expectations, which have 
been abundantly realized. The English school was soon 
vacated, and served for a place of recitation till autumn, 
when Col. Canon had so far progressed with a fine large 
stone building, as to afiford convenient accommodation, 
both to teachers and students. Mr. Miller, who had been 
the teacher in the English school, was retained, and em- 
ployed as professor in the mathematical sciences, and 
proved to be an instructor of the highest order, and con- 



152 Address of Blaine Ewing 



tinued to fill the place thirty or forty years ; as long as he 
was able to discharge its duties. His memory is greatly 
cherished by hundreds, who were taught by him. In a 
short time, more students came from the region of country 
around than could have been generally expected, in a land 
that, a few years before, had been an Indian wilderness. 
On the roll, in a few weeks, were entered Abraham Scott, 
Robert Patterson, William Wylie, Thomas Swearengen^ 
James Snodgrass, Ebenezer Henderson, James Duncan, 
James Allison, Joseph Doddridge, Darsey Pentecost, 
James Dunlavy, Daniel McLean, William Kerr, Philip 
Doddridge, and Alexander Campbell." Extract of a let- 
ter from Mr. Patterson to Dr. M. Brown in 1845. 

The institution was got up by an association of minis- 
ters and citizens. They called themselves, ''Contributors 
to the Academy and Library :" and about the time above 
indicated, by previous appointment, they met, and chose 
by ballot, trustees. The charter, which they after obtain- 
ed, designated them "The Academy and Library Com- 
pany." Their constitution required nine trustees to be 
elected, annually, by those who had contributed to the 
Academy and Library, agreeably to certain regulations. 
But of their earlier meetings, previous to the date of their 
charter, and of their mode of proceeding, nothing but tra- 
dition now remains. We do not know with certainty who 
were the nine first trustees. There can be Httle doubt, 
however, that they were nearly, if not quite the same that 
we find in the recorded minutes in 1796.* 



♦When the Academy was fairly under way, and the new building finished and 
opened for instructions, the trustees inserted in the Pittsburg Gazette, in 1792, the 
following notice : 

"The building for the Academy at Canonsburg is now finished, and the institu- 
tion under good regulations. The Grammer School is taught by Mr. Johnston; and 
the English, Euclid's Elements of Geometry, Trigonometrj', Plain and Spherical, 
with the latter's application to Astronomy; Navigation, Surveying, Mensuration, 
Gauging, Dialing Conic Sections, Algebra, and Book-keeping, by Mr. Miller; both 
well known for their attention and abilities. Boarding in the neighborhood to be 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 153 



At the risk of being tedious, I am going to recite the 
names of some of the original grantees as taken from the 
records in Washington after Canon got his patent. 

On the west side of Central Avenue beginning at Pike 
Street, first comes Abraham Dehaven, then Walter 
Buchanan, Francis Irwin, John McDowell and Thomas 
Speers. Above College Street, Samuel Neill, Andrew 
Munro, John McMillan, the Academy lot, Patrick Scott, 
Hugh Hanna, John Murphy, William Webster and Thom- 
as Orr, which brings you to Pitt Street. Above Pitt Street 
are Samuel Moreland and Elizabeth Andrews. 

Then turning eastward along the north side of Pitt 
Street are William Hays, David Ralston, Andrew Duncan, 
Samuel Miller, William Wick^ Abraham Singhorse and 
Moses Foster. 

On the eastern side of Central Avenue, William Canon 
owned for a while, the lot where Morgan's store stands, 
above him came Robert Bowland, Craig and Mathew 
Ritchie, Abraham DeHaven, Henry Westbay, William 
Thompson, then College Street. North of College Street 
are three vacant lots afterwards Jefiferson College ; then 
about opposite the old Academy property, is Philip Dun- 
comb's ; then going North, John McGill, George McCook, 
Witherspoon and Hanna in partnership, Thomas McGif- 
fin, and William McCall which again brings us to Pitt 
Street. 



Before the town which Canon had founded became a 
Borough, its proprietor had passed from the scene of ac- 

had at good houses, at the low price of ten pounds, payable, principally in produce. 
The situation is healthy, near the center of Washington County; the fund raised by 
the Presbytery, and to be applied for the support af a certain number of Scholars, 
annually, is directed by the Synod of the district to be appropriated to this Academy. 
It is hoped the public will regard with a favorable eye this institution, and give it all 
the encouragement it may deserve. 

" Nov. 2, 1792. 

" N. B. The printers in the difierent states will please insert the above in their 
newspapers." 



154 Address of Blaine Ewing 



tion. I have never yet seen mention of the date of his 
death, further than to fix it in the year 1798. Let us see 
if we can locate it more definitely. The account of his ad- 
ministrators filed after his death, shows many little things 
hardly worthy of mention. But among others it shows 
that Samuel Witherspoon had made his jacket and 
breeches; and Jerrard Greer had made the shoes for the 
Colonel and Miss Jean and Thomas Merchant had collect- 
ed his tax ; while William Clarke furnished coffee at fifty 
cents a pound, to the family, by the hands of "Peggy". 

Apparently seeing the end approach, on the 4th day of 
April, 1798, the Colonel makes his will, and called in his 
friends John McMillan and Craig Ritchie to witness it. In 
it, he mentions his children, viz: — William, Joshua, John, 
Jr., Jean and Abigail, who were provided for by a deed of 
the Mill property executed on that day, in which he 
charges against the land conveyed to the boys, a legacy 
for the two girls ; and then directs that his other children, 
Margaret, Anne and Samuel shall have such ''a. decent and 
reasonable education as the Estate will Bare." Will Book, 
Vol. I, Page 367. 

The account further shows that the bier, upon which all 
that was mortal of John Canon, was composed for burial, 
was made by James Donaldson ; and Joshua Ledlie secured 
for Mrs. Canon the trappings of genteel mourning, in or- 
der that the amenities be not outraged. The bill for these 
articles fixes the date of his death as November 6th, 1798. 
The numerous pairs of black gloves, I can understand, 
but the double and single Barcelona handkerchiefs, 
bought for men and women, are beyond my ken. 

Dr. Bradford was apparently his physician, but if he 
sanctioned and Canon took, one-tenth of the medicines 
with which the apothecary charged him, it is a wonder that 
he survived so long. Calomel, though not cheap, seems 
to have been plenty. 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 155 



In the "Vandue List" it is shown that WilHam Mercer 
paid $5.50 for 67 lbs. of old iron and Robert Black paid 
$7.25 for 2 wagon tires. 

In the account of Wm. & Joshua Canon Sen. against 
the estate we can see evidence to support the fact that 
Chartiers Creek was used as a public highway, as the leg- 
islature declared it to be. 

£ s. d. 

4 days at Boating i o o 

May 7, 1794, 3 clays Boating 5/ .... o 15 o 

To hand saw and a ax lent and lost 

at the Boat, ax 11/ saw 7/6 . . . i (S o 

Aug. 1795, to horse and self for 2 

months going to Baltimore ... 19 o o 

2 Beef cattle took to Baltimore .... 9 o o 

October 12, 1792, Col. Canon to 
Patrick Lindsey, made 300 rails 

and found myself o 12 o 

do, for Wm. Thompson, 74 Rails 
that he took from my clearing 

to fence the Breek Yeard o 2 9 

To Bracking flax for Mrs. Canon. . 4 days 
Cutting a pit for the Kog wheal 

that Drives the Burr Stones .. 12 days 
Cutting below the Tail Raise a wa- 
ter Curse for Botes 6 days 

On Dec. 4, 1798 Col. Canon's widow receipts for divers 
articles amounting to $828.00 including i Mulatto lad with 
12 years to serve valued at $160.00. 

The account of Wm. Clarke against the estate shows 
that whiskey was only worth i shilling 4^ pence by the 
quart, while cofiee was 3 shillings and 3 pence per pound, 
and muslin 15 shilings per yard, 6 yards amounting to £4 
IDS. od. 



156 Address of Blaine Ewing 



Thos. Hutcheson has a long account commencing Oc- 
tober 25, 1784: 

To I day at wheel mending 2s. 6d. 

To 3 days sawing shingles and cogs . . . los. 6d. 

and other occupations at the same rate per day, including 
work in the Rease (race)^ dam mending, cleaning out "old 
Lim kill/' road making, and work in the Still house. 

In addition to John Canon's donation of the lot upon 
which the old Stone College stood/ he advanced the money 
to build it, and waited years upon the struggling contribu- 
tors to reimburse him, in contributions so small that they 
are almost pitiful. Two or three bushels of wheat from 
the men, one or two yards of linen from the women com- 
pose the list, to be sold and the money contributed to that 
fund. To illustrate the spirit which animated the good 
people of this whole section, and their devotion to the 
struggling Academy, as well as the privation it must have 
been to John Canon to wait so long for his money, I quote 
from the account of Professor Robert Patterson, as given 
in the History of Jeflferson College^ page 30. 

"The contributions for the support of the Academy 
were gathered from the congregations of the Presby- 
terians and Seceders through the Western country. The 
ministers were, in many cases, very active in gathering 
these offerings from their people. They consisted not 
solely in money, but in produce and articles of every de- 
scription. These offerings (chiefly by promise or subscrip- 
tion,) were made by nearly all Presbyterian congregations 
in the West, for the purpose, both of refunding Col. 
Canon the cost of the Academy, and of aiding in payment 
of teachers, besides occasionally with a view of raising 
means to support, in part, young men who were candidates 
for the gospel ministry. The history of the proceedings 
of one minister, the Rev. Joseph Patterson, will sufBce for 
a sample of what was generally done in the congregations 



The Charter or Shurtee Settlement 157 



west of the mountains. It appears, by the dates of the 
payments made by him, sometimes to Mr. McMillan, as 
treasurer, and sometimes to Col. Canon, that the cost of 
the Academy was not all refunded for several years — some 
of the receipts being as late as 1794-5. There are found 
among the papers of Mr. Patterson, two subscription rolls 
of different date, but containing in part the same names ; 
the latest of the two being dated in June, 1794; the last 
also stating that it was for the purpose both of finishing 
the Academy, and for aid to poor and pious students. One 
of the papers has about one hundred and twenty names, 
and the other not quite one hundred. But little was paid 
at the time of subscribing; and but little^ at any time, in 
money; great part in grain, wheat, rye, and no small por- 
tion in linen ; the linen chiefly by the ladies ; some by 
widows and some by wives and daughters of the men who 
had subscribed. The sums were in Pennsylvania currency ; 
and a large portion of them did not exceed 3s. 9d. — 7s. 6d., 
and a few^ advanced to los. and 15s., and still fewer to one 
pound. The grain was delivered in mills, and then sold. The 
linen was sometimes delivered to the treasurer, to be dis- 
posed of as he could, at is. i^d, per yard,, or 25 cents. 
One subscription was to be paid in whiskey ! All are re- 
ported on the papers to have been fully paid; and the 
amount of both subscriptions reached nearly $350. 

The following subscription paper will be found very in- 
teresting: "June 9th, 1794. We, whose names are here- 
unto signed, desirous to forward the Academy building, at 
Canonsburg, do promise, for that purpose, to pay, or de- 
liver into some mill, in the bounds of the Rev. Joseph 
Patterson's congregation, the quantities of wheat or rye 
annexed to our names, and deliver the receipts thereof to 
said Patterson, on or before the end of this present year." 



J 58 Address of Blaine Ewing 



The following may be selected among the long list of 
names found on this interesting paper : 

James Ewing 5 bushels of wheats at 2 shillings 

William Flanegan . ..i " " " " 

Robert Moor 2 " 

John Logan 2 " " " " 

James Laird 4 " " " " 

Samuel Riddle, (in money,) 7s. 6d. 

John McMillan, cash $1 

Joseph Patterson^ cash $6 

Airs. Vallandingham 6 yards of linen 

Mrs. Lienor Thompson 3 yards of linen 

John Kelso 4 bushels of wheat 

John Thompson 4 bushels of wheat 

James McBride 3 bushels of rye 

Hugh McCoy 4 bushels of rye 

Alex. McCandless 2 bushels of wheat 

John Cardike, (a pious negro,) ...2 bushels of wheat 

George Vallandingham, cash 7s. 6d. 

Mrs. Nesbit 3 yards of linen 

Widow Riddle 3 yards of linen 

Her daughter Mary 3 yards of linen 

"The value of these old papers/' says Professor R. Pat- 
terson, who furnished them to Dr. Brown, "consists in 
their exhibiting the spirit of the enterprise, the objects for 
which the institution was founded, and the humble re- 
sources of his patrons.." 

John Canon gave a lot of four and one quarter acres 
to the Presbyterian "Hill" Church, describing it as fol- 
lows : to "the Trustees of the Presbyterian Congregation 
of Chartiers, in the county of Washington, holding the Re- 
ligious principles contained in the Constitution of the Pres- 
byterian Church in the United States of America, as rati- 
fied and adopted by the Synod of New York and Phila- 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 159 



delphia, held at Philadelphia the i6th day of May, 1788." 
Date, June 30th, 1798. Deed Book O. page 3517. The con- 
sideration in this deed was one dollar, therefore, I con- 
clude that he was allied with the Presbyterian faith, for he 
charged the Seceders $45.00 for 4 acres 2 rods and 15 
perches, which was deeded to "Nicholas Little, Samuel 
Agnew, Thomas Meaneary, (McNary) David Reed, John 
Hays, John White and Jeremiah Simpson in behalf of the 
Associate Congregation of Chartiers Church/' Date Dec. 
26th, 1797. Deed Book O. page 67. 

Three of his children were then attending school as we 
see by the bill of David Murdoch on a School Article for 5 
pounds, 17 shillings 8 pence for one year's tuition. 

Although his heart was likely in his own school here, 
he had made a large subscription for that day, viz. : 10 
pounds to the rival Academy at Washington. 

In the midst of his days and hardly past the prime of 
life, he was cut down. 

Financial troubles followed soon upon his family, who 
deserved better things than the harrassment of legal pro- 
ceedings. The short entries on the docket are not much to 
inspire to eloquence, but they mutely hold out their hands 
across the century, to us, to condone the fault, if indeed 
it be such, to give so much to education as to impoverish 
ones self. 

The Borough 

I have left but little time to speak of the Borough 
proper: It was incorporated on 22nd of February, 1802. 
The Act creating it is quaint in many particulars. It de- 
fines its boundaries as beginning at Brush Run, up the 
same to line between Craig Ritchie and Samuel Wither- 
spoon; thence to land of Thomas Briceland, — to Wells 
road— to Nathan Andrews' lot, and to include the "old 
brue House," thence along the western end of the town 
lots to the Washington road, — to a Vv^hite oak marked 



i6o Address of Blaine Ewing 



'G' on Miller's improvement, near the Creek, and down 
the same to the beginning. 

It defines the requisites of voting, as six month's resi- 
dence prior to election, and directs the citizens to meet in 
one of the rooms of the College, on the first Monday of 
May, between the hours of twelve and six o'clock in the 
evening, and elect one reputable citizen for Burgess, and 
five reputable citizens as Town Council, and a High Con- 
stable. It imposes a fine of $20.00 on any one who, after 
election as Burgess or as a member of Town Council, shall 
refuse or neglect to serve. See Appendix for full text of 
the act of incorporation. 

As many of the town lots had a right to so much coal 
as was necessary for fuel for one house, from the bank 
south of town; the Council was empowered to appoint a 
clerk for the coal bank to regulate its afifairs and protect 
private property. 

An election was held on the 3rd day of May, 1802, 
whereat William Clark was Judge, A. Miurdock, Inspector, 
and Samuel Miller, Clerk. It resulted in the election oi 
Dr. Samuel Murdock as Burgess, and William Clark, 
Thomas Briceland, William White, John Watson and John 
Johnson as members of Council ; and John McGill as High 
Constable. 

After Council had organized by electing overseers of 
streets and alleys ; viewers of partition walls and fences ; 
and Andrew Munro had been elected Clerk of the Mar- 
ket, it proceeded to issue an edict against "Hogs, shoats, 
and pigs running at large without Yokes and Rings" and 
declaring them a forfeiture. 

This law was difficult of enforcement, for although the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law prohibiting hogs 
from running at large in this Borough, the aforesaid hogs 
continued to wander in from the surrounding woods, de- 
spite the edict of the city fathers as well as the Legislature 



The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement i6i 



of Pennsylvania. In the Duke of York's Book of Laws^ a 
similar enactment appears for the Borough of Chester one 
hundred years before Canonsburg was in existence. Duke 
of York's Laws, page 259. 

The first tax levy shows eighty seven names, and the 
valuations run from ten dollars up to $1,200.00, the ma- 
jority being between one hundred and three hundred dol- 
lars. 

At one cent on the dollar, on a valuation of a little over 
$12,252.00, $122.52 were raised to defray the expenses of 
the Borough the first year. 

During the first year a pair of stocks was erected "to 
confine offenders in, whose crimes may not merit a greater 
punishment", and at the same session "Mounte-banks, 
stage players and exhibitions of puppet shows" who "ex- 
hibit in their profession for money" were fined $50.00, and 
as $2.00 was the usual penalty for average offenses, it is 
hard to understand this severity. 

Thomas Speers was cited to be present at next meeting 
and present his account as Town Clerk. He was allowed 
$4.00 for his services "including one paper of ink powder." 
It was good ink to, for it is almost as bright and clear as 
the day it was written, although the hand that penned the 
record has been dust almost a century. 

I must consider the living somewhat, and spare you 
any further recital of these old worthies'" history. Some 
friends have supplied me with details of family genealogy- 
which I had hoped to use, but it has become impossible to 
do so. So much has already been omitted to bring this 
within any reasonable length, that the writer doubts the 
wisdom of the choice between what was accepted and re" 
jected. Not to speak of the Ritchies, Murdocks. Dr. Mer- 
cer, the Bricelands, Clarks, Buchanans, Westbays, Mc- 
Cooks, Hays, McGills, and a host of others seems to slight 
the worthy incorporators of our town, but time forbids 



i62 Address of Blaine Ewingf 



any other course. Of the men and women of our early 
day, too much can hardly be said in praise. Their faults 
were of the positive kind as well as their virtues ; and it is 
customary to make fun of the desire of the Scotch-Irish 
to magnify the past. George Fisher in his "Making of 
Pennsylvania" p. 178, says "Their excesses in modern 
times are confined for the most part to somewhat fulsome 
eulogies of their own merits in the past", and then goes 
on to admit most of their virtues. 

They had among them some turbulent spirits, who 
moved farther west as civilization became irksome to 
them, and with their exit took away the element of ex- 
citability and resistence to authoriy. 

But when all is said this much cannot be denied our an- 
cestors. That they moved in the van of civilization, often 
far ahead of its outposts and held the field against all odds, 
the savage, the elements and lead a life that lacked all the 
amenities, except always this fact, that they planted 
schools and churches in the heart of the wilderness. They 
builded not for the passing moment but for all time. If 
their creed was somewhat strict and their lives seemed 
devoted to hardships^ it was that immolation of self — that 
disregard of the present discomfort and danger, that fixes 
its eye on the future, and with a faith that clasps the 
heights of eternity sees visions, and dreams dreams of em- 
pires, while it struggled to gain a foothold, and remain 
until increasing numbers peopled the land; and laid up the 
stores of prosperity which we enjoy. 




APPENDICES 

Appendix "A" 

The Act of Incorporation 

N Act to erect the Town of Canonsburg, in 
the County of Washington into a Bor- 
ough. 

SECTION I.— Be it enacted by the 
Senate and House of Representatives of 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 
General Assembly met, and it is hereby 
enacted by the authority of the same, That the town of 
Canonsburgh, in the County of Washington, shall be, and 
the same is hereby, erected into a borough which shall be 
called the "Borough of Canonsburgh" and shall be com- 
prised within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning at 
the mouth of Brush run ; thence up said run^ to the division 
line between Craig Ritchie's land and Samuel Witherspoon's 
lot; thence along the line of said lot, so as to include the 
same, to Thomas Briceland's land; thence along the line of 
said land, until it strikes Wells's road; thence to the corner 
of Nathan Andrews's lot; thence along the north side of 
the same, to lot attached to the old brew house; thence 
along said lot so as to include the same, to the west end 
of the town lots on the west side of the principal street; 
thence along the end of said lots to the Washington road ; 
thence along the said road southwest to a white oak 
marked G, at the southwest end of Miller's improvement 
on Darr Osfle's land; thence a direct course to Chartiers 
Creek; thence down the same to the place of beginning, 

SECTION 2. — And be it further enacted by the authori- 
ty aforesaid. That it shall and may be lawful for all persons 



l64 Appendix A 



having resided within the said borough six months next pre- 
ceding the election, and being entitled to vote for members 
of the general assembly, on the first Monday of May in each 
year hereafter, to meet in one of the rooms of the college 
in the said borough, and then and there elect, by ballot, be- 
tween the hours of 12 and 6 o'clock in the evening, one repu- 
table citizen, residing therein, who shall be styled the burgess 
of the borough, and five reputable citizens to be a town 
council and shall also elect a high constable ; but previous 
to the opening of any such election the said inhabitants shall 
elect three reputable citizens, one of whom shall preside as 
judge, one to act as inspector and the other to perform the 
duty of a clerk, according to the directions of the general 
election laws of this commonwealth (so far as relates to 
receiving and counting votes and shall be subject to the 
same penalties for mal-practice as by the said election laws 
are imposed) ; and the said judge, inspector and clerk before 
they enter on the exercise of their respective duties, shall 
take an oath or affirmation before any justice of the peace of 
the county of Washington to perform the same with fidelity, 
and shall hold the said election from time to time, as occa- 
sion shall require, receive and count the ballots, and de- 
clare the persons having the greatest number of votes to be 
duly elected; whereupon duplicate certificates thereof shall 
be signed by the said judge, inspector and clerk, one of 
which shall be transmitted to each of the persons elected, 
and the other filed among the records of the corporation, for 
their safe keeping, and in case of vacancy by death, resigna- 
tion, refusal to accept, or removal from the said borough of 
any of said officers, the burgess, or in his absence or in- 
ability to act, the first named of the town council, shall issue 
his precept, directed to the high constable, requiring him to 
hold an election to fill such vacancy, by giving at least ten 
days previous notice, by advertisements set up at four of 
the most public places within the said borough. 

SECTION 3. — And be it further enacted by the au- 



Canonsburg Centennial 165 



thority aforesaid, That the burgess and town council, duly 
elected as aforesaid, and their successors forever hereafter, 
shall be one body politic and corporate in law, by the name 
of "Theburgfess and town council of the borough of Canons- 
burgh in the county of Washington" and shall have per- 
petual succession ; and the said burgess and town council 
aforesaid and their successors forever, hereafter shall be 
capable in law, to have, get, receive, hold and possess, lands, 
tenements, rents, liberties, jurisdictions, franchises and 
hereditaments, to them and their successors, in fee simple 
or otherwise, also goods, chattels and other things, of what 
nature or kind soever, not exceeding the yearly value of 
three thousand dollars, and also to give, grant, let, sell and 
assign the same lands, tenements, hereditaments, rents, 
goods and chattels, and by the name aforesaid, they shall be 
capable in law, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, 
in any of the courts of this commonwealth, in all manner 
of actions whatsoever, and to have and use one common seal 
and the same, from time to time, at their will, to change and 
alter. 

SECTION 4. — And be it further enacted by the author- 
ity aforesaid, That if any person duly qualified to elect and 
be elected, whether the burgess or a member of the town 
council as aforesaid, having been notified as before directed, 
shall refuse or neglect to take upon himself the execution 
of the office to which he shall have been elected, every per- 
son so refusing or neglecting, shall forfeit and pay the sum 
of twenty dollars, which fine, and all other fines and for- 
feitures incurred and made payable in pursuance of this 
act, or of the bye-laws and ordinances of the town council, 
shall be for the use of the said corporation. 

SECTION 5. — And be it further enacted by the author- 
ity aforesaid. That the burgess, town council, and high con- 
stable, and each of them, shall take an oath or affirmation 
before any of the judges or justices of the peace for the 



l66 Appendix A 



county of Washington, to support the constitution of the 
United States and of this state, and well and truly to exe- 
cute the duties of their respective offices in the borough of 
Canonsburgh, before they shall enter on the execution there- 
of, and the certificate of such oath or affirmation shall be 
recorded in the books of the said corporation. 

SECTION 6. — And be it further enacted by the author- 
ity aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the town 
council to meet as often as occasion may require, and may 
appoint a town clerk, and such other officers as may be 
necessary to regulate the digging and gathering of coal, in 
the coal banks adjacent to the said town, by the inhabitants 
thereof, in such manner that the private rights of indi- 
viduals be not injured or impaired, and manage the con- 
cerns of the coal banks, so far as the right of the inhabi- 
tants of said borough extends to the same ; for repairing the 
streets, lanes and alleys, and for removing nuisances and 
obstructions therefrom; for regulating partition walls and 
fences ; to enact such bye-laws, and make such rules, ordi- 
nances and regulations ; assess, apportion and appropriate 
such taxes as shall be thought by a majority of the town 
council best calculated to promote the foregoing purposes, 
and tO' dO' every matter and thing incident to, and for the 
good of the said borough, for the preservation of peace and 
good government within the same, which bye-laws,, rules, 
ordinances and regulations shall not be repugnant to the 
constitution and laws of the United States or of this state, 
and the same to revoke and annul, alter and make anew, as 
occasion may require ; but no person shall be punishable for 
any breach of the bye-laws, rules, ordinances and regula- 
tions, unless after the passing of an ordinance, the same be 
set up on the market-house, and on two other of the most 
public places within the said borough ; and no bye-law or 
ordinance shall have any effect sooner than three weeks after 
such publication; Provided nevertheless. That no tax shall 



Canonsburg Centennial 167 



be laid in any one year, on the valuation of taxable prop- 
erty, exceeding one cent in the dollar, unless some object of 
general utility should be thought necessary; in such case a 
majority of the taxable inhabitants of said town, by writing, 
under their hands, shall certify the same to the town coun- 
cil, who shall proceed to asses the same, as before directed. 

SECTION 7.— And be it further enacted by the author- 
ity aforesaid. That the burgess elect, agreeably to the direc- 
tions of this act, is hereby authorized and empowered to 
issue his precept to the high constable, commanding him to 
collect all taxes assessed from time to time, as aforesaid, 
and all fines and forfeitures that may become due by this 
act, or by the ordinances or regulations of the corporation, 
and the same to pay over to the treasurer to be appointed 
by the town council, and to carry into effect whatsoever is 
enjoined on him for the well ordering and good government 
of the said borough ; Provided nevertheless. That it shall 
and may be lawful to and for the justices of the peace of 
said borough, and all and every the justice or justices of the 
peace aforesaid, residing or being in the said borough, to 
do and execute every act or acts, as pertaining to their office, 
agreeably to the powers conferred on them by the constitu- 
tion of the commonwealth. 

SECTION 8. — And be it further enacted by the author- 
ity aforesaid. That the burgess shall be, and is hereby re- 
quired to cause the bye-laws, rules, ordinances and regula- 
tions, made as aforesaid, to be recorded in a book to be kept 
for that purpose ; and he shall carry the same into full execu- 
tion, without delay, after the publication thereof, as directed 
by the sixth section of this act : And it shall be the duty of 
the town clerk to attend all meetings of the town council, 
when assembled on business of the corporation, and perform 
the duties of clerk thereto, and keep and preserve the com- 
mon seal, records, papers, books and other documents re- 
lating to said corporation, under the penalty of being an- 



l68 Appendix A 



swerable to any person concerned, for all damages, and of 
removal from office by the burgess, on complaint of a ma- 
jority of the Council; and the high constable shall perform 
all duties on him enjoined by this act and the bye-laws and 
the ordinances of the town council, under the like penalties 
and manner of removal : Provided always. That if any per- 
son shall think himself or herself aggrieved by anything 
done in pursuance of this act, he or she may appeal to the 
next court of quarter sessions to be holden for the county 
of Washington, he or she giving surety, according to law, 
to prosecute his or her appeal with effect, which court shall 
take such order therein, as shall be just and reasonable, and 
which order or judgment shall be conclusive to all parties. 

SECTION 9. — And be it further enacted by the author- 
ity aforesaid, That nothing contained in an act of the gen- 
eral assembly entitled "An Act for opening, better amend- 
ing and keeping in repair the public roads and highways 
within this province" passed in the year of our Lord, 1772, 
shall be deemed, construed or taken to extend to the public 
roads, streets, lanes or alleys within the said borough, or to 
the assessing the inhabitants thereof, for the purpose therein 
mentioned, or to any matter or thing to be done or performed 
therein. 

Isaac Weaver, Junior, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Samuel Maclay, 
Speaker of the Senate. 

Approved: February the twenty-second, 1802. 

Thomas McKean, 
Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

P. L. 1802, page 66. 

In consequence of the foregoing Act of Incorporation, 
an election for officers was held on the 3rd day of May, 1802. 
Wm. Clarke, Judge ; A. Murdock, Inspector ; Samuel Miller, 



Canonsburg Centennial 169 



Clerk. On counting the votes it appeared that Samuel Mur- 
dock, Esq., was duly elected burgess. And also that William 
Clarke, Thomas Briceland, Wm. White, John Johnson and 
John Watson, Esq., were duly elected members of Council 
for the Borough of Canonsburg. 

And also John McGill was duly elected High Con- 
stable. A notice of each of their elections being, according 
to law, served on them, the burgess and members of Coun- 
cil appeared and took their respective oaths of office accord- 
ing to law. 

Appendix "B" 

In order that the reader may be able to locate his an- 
cestors in and about Canonsburg, I have added as an ap- 
pendix, the duplicates of assessment of the Borough of 
Canonsburg for the years 1802 and 1804, showing the 
amounts assesed against each piece of property. 

For a like purpose I also add the return of Election of 
Justices of the Peace for Cecil Township for the year 1788, 
as Appendix C. The return of Election of Justices of the 
Peace for Strabane Township for the same year as Appen- 
dix D, and a like return for Chartiers Township for the 
year 1790 as Appendix E. 

Borough of Canonsburg, June i, 1802, Council met 
and proceeded to hold the appeal. Charles Herron for him- 
self appealed but could not show any cause for reduction. 
Likewise, Edward Williams, no cause, also Elizabeth 
Andrews, no cause. 

Therefore a duplicate of Assessment as followeth was 
made out and given to the constable for collection. 

Valuation Assessment 
Darr & Ogle, 2,400.00 24.00 

Alex'r Ogle, 50.00 .50 

James Murdock, 340.00 3 -40 

John Watson, 360.00 3.60 

John Speer, 10.00 .10 



170 



Appendix B 



Craig Ritchie, 
William Clarke, 
F. Irwin, 
John McDowell, 
Isaac Hezlet, 
Henry Westbay, 
Sam'l Neill, 
Benj'n Brown, 
Andrew Munro, 
Murdock & Johnson, 
John Johnson, 
Sam'l Murdock, 
Reynolds Neill, 
And'w Munro, 
Widow Carson, 
Rev. J. Watson, 
Jas. Cunningham, 
Jos. Pentecost, 
George McCook, 
Wm. McLaughlin, 
Geo. Munro, 
H. & Witherspoons, 
David Wilson, 
Sam'l Taggart, 
Joshua Canon, 
John Murphy, 
Eph'm Jones, 
Dan'l McGill, 
Wm. Hays, 
Jas. Philops, 
Jas. Wilson, 
Ross McNeill, 
Wm. Greer, 
Jas. Smith, 
Wm. McCawl, 
Gilbert McAfee, 
Nath'n Andrews, 
Eliza. Andrews, 
John Steen, 
David Andrews, 
Jennett Brown, 



VAI.UATION 


Assessment 


610.00 


6.10 


336.00 


3.36 


336.00 


3-36 


400.00 


4.00 


70.00 


.70 


865.00 


8.6s 


300.00 


3.00 


50.00 


.50 


230.00 


2.30 


800.00 


8.00 


220.00 


2.20 


220.00 


2.20 


410.00 


4.10 


1,205.00 


12.10 


418.00 


4.18 


365-00 


3.65 


10.00 


.10 


266.00 


2.66 


20.00 


.20 


200.00 


2.00 


10.00 


.10 


420.00 


4,20 


220.00 


2.20 


286.00 


2.86 


240.00 


2 40 


285.00 


2.8s 


200.00 


2.00 


70.00 


.70 


240.00 


2.40 


10.00 


.10 


266.00 


2.66 


10.00 


.10 


133.00 


1.33 


40.00 


.40 


250.00 


2.50 


85.00 


.85 


25.00 


.25 


70.00 


.70 


70.00 


.70 


125.00 


1.25 


30.00 


.30 



Canonsburg Centennial 



171 



Wm. Hays, 
Geo. Land, 
Robt. McCurdy, 
Mrs. Mercer, 
Wm. Wick, 
Jas. Donelson, 
Thos. Speers, 
John McFarland, 
"MVm. & J'osh'a Canon, 
Wm. White, 
Alex'r Boyd, 
Wm. Irwin, 
John Lowery, 
Mary Whiteside, 
Nath'l White, 
Jas. Foster, 
Wm. Hertupee, 
Christ Musser, 
Jas. Smith, 
M. Miles, 
Mary Hill, 
Ann Christy, 
Math'w Hall, 
Jas. Patterson, 
Alex. Cook, 
Jas. Black, 
Geo. Potter, 
T. Briceland, 
Chas. Herron, 
Jno. McGill, 
Jas. Briceland, 
Ed'd Williams, 
John Smith, 
F. W. Hillard, 
Sam'l Murdock. 
Jas. Balantine, 
Widow Donnel, 
Widow Murdoch, 
Sam'l Miller, 



Valuation 


Assessment 


300.00 


3,00 


250.00 


2.50 


140.00 


1.40 


110.00 


1. 10 


130.00 


1.30 


10.00 


.10 


260.00 


2.60 


80.00 


.80 


60.00 


.60 


520.00 


5.20 


50.00 


• so 


200.00 


2.00 


20.00 


.20 


60.00 


.60 


300.00 


3.00 


350.00 


3-50 


60.00 


.60 


20.00 


.20 


100.00 


1. 00 


10.00 


.10 


228.00 


2.28 


40.00 


.40 


10.00 


.10 


225.00 


2.25 


120.00 


1.20 


200.00 


2.00 


80.00 


.80 


377-00 


z-yi 


210.00 


2.10 


60.00 


.60 


120 . 00 


1.20 


100.00 


1. 00 


370.00 


3.70 


300.00 


3-00 


120.00 


1.20 


52.00 


.52 


50.00 


•SO 


70.00 


.70 


120.00 


1.20 



$123.53 



JJ2 Appendix B 



Borough of Canonsburg, 4th June, 1802. The town 
Council met. Wm. Clarke, Thos. Briceland, John Johnson 
and John Watson present. 

Resolved that the taxes for the present year be pro- 
portioned at One Cent upon each Dollar of the value of the 
yearly property of the inhabitants of the Borough — pro- 
vided that if, in the course of the year there will not be 
occasion to expend so much of the said sum, then no more 
shall be collected than merely what will be required, but of 
this the Burgess shall be the sole Judge, and the Burgess 
is hereby directed to issue his warrant to the Constable to 
cclect the above sum. 

Treasurer's Account from May, 1802, to May, 1803 : 
Treasurer of the Borough to Tax levied May, 

1802, Dr $123-53 

Cr. 

By cash paid Thomas Speers as clerk $ 4.00 

" Supervisor's Acct. as settled 76-9 li 

" Alex. Boid's Amt. remitted .50 

" cash paid James Patterson for digging a drain i.io 
" ditto paid John McGill Const, fees for collec- 
tion 7-50 

By Ballance remaining in the treasury 25.51^ 

By cash paid G. McAfee for digging and Bridging 

a drain at the coal bank 8.00 



$123-53 

Valuation for the year 1804. 

Valuation Assessment 

Alexander Murdock, Esq., $2,300.00 $ 11.50 

James Murdock, 240.00 1.20 

John Watson, 450.00 2.25 

Rev. Mr. Dunlap, 500.00 2.50 

Craig Ritchie, Esq., 700.00 3-50 

John Lowrev, for Francis Irwin's House, 400.00 2.00 

John Lowrey, 20.00 .20 



Canonsburg Centennial 173 



Valuation Assessment 
Jane Hazelet, for J. McDowell's House, 
Jane Hazelet. 
Henry Westbay, 
Robert Bowland, 
Sam'l Murdock, Esq., 
Murdock, for Johnson (Brick House), 
Reynold Neill, Two Houses, 
Andrew Munro Nailor, 
Andrew Munro, Esq., 
Geo. McCook, for J. Pentecost's House, 
Geo. McCook, 

John Roberts, for His House and Field, 
John Roberts, for 18 Acres Bottom, 
John Roberts, for the Red House, 
Creditors of Jas. Dobbin, 
Sam'l Reed, 
Witherspoon & Hanna, 
David Wilson, 
Jno. Murphy, 
Sam'l Taggart, 
William Greer's House, 
Dan'l McGill, 

James Patterson, for Hays Property, 
Ephraim Jones, 

Wm. Hays, for where J. Carson lives, 
John McGill, for Horse-mill lot, 
William McCall, 
James Patterson, 
David Andrews, 
Betsy Andrews, 
Jeany Brown, 
James Briceland, 
Gilbert McAfee, 
Geo. Land, 

William Marshall, for R. McCurdy, 
Colwell, Studt., 
Emmery, for Weeks' House, 
John McFarland, 

Jno. Mercer, for Speers and the Still House, 250.00 
Mrs. Donnell, 
Jas. Ballentine, 
Jas. Donaldson, 



450.00 


2.25 


80.00 


.40 


1,050.00 


5.25 


300.00 


1.50 


300 . 00 


1.50 


750.00 


3-75 


800.00 


4.00 


250 . 00 


1-25 


1,300.00 


6.50 


266 . 00 


1-33 


40.00 


.20 


450.00 


2.25 


400.00 


2.00 


200.00 


1. 00 


100.00 


.50 


70.00 


• 35 


500 . 00 


2.50 


350.00 


1-75 


400 . 00 


2.00 


300.00 


1.50 


100.00 


• 50 


300.00 


1.50 


500.00 


2.50 


200.00 


1. 00 


200.00 


1. 00 


300.00 


1.50 


300.00 


1.50 


250.00 


1.25 


125.00 


.621/2 


70.00 


•35 


25.00 


.121/2 


150.00 


1-25 


150.00 


I -25 


300.00 


1.50 


140.00 


1.20 


200.00 


1. 00 


130.00 


.65 


120.00 


.60 


:, 250.00 


1-25 


50.00 


.25 


100.00 


•SO 


120.00 


.60 



174 



Appendix C 



VAI.UATION Assessment 



Walter Emerv, 


200.00 


1. 00 


Anne Christy, 


50.00 


•25 


William White, 


500.00 


2.50 


William Tanner, 


200.00 


1. 00 


William Hartuppe, 


400.00 


2.00 


Ch. Musser, 


20.00 


.10 


Mrs. Murdock, Widow, 


80.00 


.40 


Thos. Briceland, 


400.00 


2.00 


Charles Herron, 


200.00 


1. 00 


Mrs. Carson, 


500.00 


2.50 


Nath'l White, 


300.00 


1.50 


Mrs. Hill, 


228 . 00 


1. 14 


Jno. McGill, for Ground near Ballentines, 


75.00 


.37% 


Geo. Munroe, 


10.00 


.05 


Geo. Hall, for Brue-house Lot, 


100.00 


• SO 


J. Cochran, Dr., 


50.00 


.25 



Appendix "C" 

Blection of Justices of the Peace for Cecil Townsliipj 
September 12, 1788. 



William Long, 
James McLaughlin, 
John Struthers, 
James Parker, 



Inspector. 
Asst. Judge. 
AssL Judge. 
Constable. 



Return. 



John Reed 


had 67 votes. 


Craig Ritchie 


" 


47 " 


Matthew McConnell 


« 


Z7 " 


Presly Neville, 


« 


35 " 


Thomas Bracken 


" 


31 " 


Isaac Weaver 


<( 


17 " 


James Colvin 


« 


9 " 



Canonsburg Centennial 



175 



Ivist of Voters 



Matthew Henderson 
Samuel May- 
John May 
David Reed 
Samuel Alexander 
Alex. McConnel 
George Frazzer 
William Mitchel 
Robert Porter 
Isaac Weaver 
Alex. McAlister 
Daniel Welsh, Sen. 
Robert Miller 
Nicholas Gouriel 
William Black 
Ephraim Harrid 
William Calhoun 
Thomas Frazzer 
James Reed 
John Kibinson 
Josiah Gamble 
Samuel McBribe 
George McCullough 
John Boys 
Daniel Welsh, Jun. 
Matt. Johnson 
Henry Grey 
Robert Ralston 
James McNary 
John Wilkinson 
Thos. McDowel 
Daniel South 
Edward Cheere 
Moses Maddlesent 
John McAde 
James Gaston 
John Lindsly 
Henry Robinson 
James Martin 
William Donnelly 
Thomas Merchant 
Kenneth McKinzey 
James Sprowl 
Adam Hickman 
William Brice 
Thomas Alexander 
Jacob Morison 
Thos. Ormond 
Jas. Dinsmore 
James Garret 
Thos. Short 



William Rowley- 
James Miller 

Alex. Coulter 

John Reed 

John Orous 

Thos. Ramsey 

Andrew Ritchey 

David Goult 

John Wilson 

Robert Parks 

Robert Wilson 

James Parks 

William Long 

Christopher Leout 

Alex. Smith 

Hugh Patten 

George Dixon 

James Kirkpatrick 

James Colvin 
John Armstrong 
John Reed, Capt. 
John Neilson 

Richard Boys 
Jonathan Hervin 
Andrew Monroe 
Robt. Bowland 
John Todd 
William Norris 
Peter Kerns 
John Orr 
John Hays 
John Dounald 
John Larrimore 
Alex. Shrither 
Robt. Hays 
Samuel Logan 
William Ha3'^s 
Thos. Struthers 
James Parker 
John Tanneyhill 
Robt. Hill 
Robt. Agnew 
John Laughling 
James Little 
William Speer 
John Struthers, Sen. 
Abram Dehever 
Robt. Stevenson 
James McEIrey 
Wm. Marshel 
James Morison 



176 



Appendix D 



James Goult 
Richard Coulter 
John Hunter 
Wm. McLaughlin 
Gavin Morrison 
Wm. Atcheson 
Cambbel 
Abram Grimes 
Prestley Neville 
Robert Guthrey 
Robert Montgomery 
Robert Hammond 
Matth. Ritchy 
Wm. Dunlap 
Robt. McAferson 



John Anderson 
Creigh Ritchey 
Joseph Brown 
Samuel Brown 
Robt. Miller 
George McComb 
James McClellon 
Thomas Brecken 
Robert Bootman 
Patrick Dougles 
Daniel Comron 
Wm. Wood 
Thos. Reed 
John Struthers, 
Henry Donald 
Matth. McConnel 



Jun. 



Appendix "D" 

Election of Justices of the Peace for Strabane Town- 
ship, September 13, 1788. 



Return. 



James McCready, 
James Brice, 
Samuel Riddle, 
John Cotton, 

Henry Taylor 
John McDowell 
Robert Stogdon 
JosiAH Scott 
James McCready 
John Wright 



Inspector. 
Asst. Judge. 
Asst. Judge. 
Constable. 



had 64 votes. 
" 26 " 
" 21 " 
" 10 " 
" 10 " 
" 10 " 



List of Voters. 



Thomas Scott 
Absolam Beard 
James Wilson 
Thomas Stokely 
Jacob Hook 
Andrew Swearingin 
James Taggert 
William Hoge 
William G. Jordan 



Nathaniel White 
John Adams 
Henry Holmes 
John White 
James Hanna 
Robert Doke 
William Laughlin 
William Norris 
Moses McWhertor 



Appendix E 



177 



Alexander Fulton 
Richard Dickinson 
Samuel Bready 
Timothy Spencer 
Hugh Workman 
John Stewart 
Samuel White 
John McLean 
Matthew Marklin 
Charles Donald 
Joseph Scott 
Thomas Woodward 
Nicholas Veneman 
Hugh Means 
Nicholas Pees 
William Huston 
David Bradford 
Richard Yeats 
James Roney 
John Urie 
Henry Woods 
James Buchanan 
George Veneman 
David Snodan 
William Thompson 
John Beckert 
William Sherrit 
James Ross 
James Wilson 
Zekiel Barnet 
Nicholas Little 
George White 
David Riddle 
Thomas McNeary 
Alexander Beer 



Samuel Hanna 
Henry Cotton 
Hugh Wilie 
Isaac Leet 
William Stewart 
Thos Nickels 
John McMillen 
Samuel Stewart 
William Montgomery 
Robert McBratney 
William Johnston 
James Steel 
Thomas Hamilton 
John Smith 
James Huston 
Lowdwick Smith 
John Mundle 
James Chambers 
Samuel Silix 
John Wright 
Frances Cunningham 
Creig Ritchie 
Thomas Stockdon 
Patrick Derby 
Robert Hamilton 
John Cotton 
John Sutherland 
James Howlet 
Henry Taylor 
William Marklin 
Joshua Anderson 
Samuel Biddle 
James Brice 
James McCready 
Josiah Hains 
Joseph Biddle 



Appendix "E" 

Election of Justices of the Peace for Chartiers Town- 
ship, March 25, 1790. 

David Gault, Inspector. 

Joseph Porter, Asst. Judge. 

James McClellan, Asst. Judge. 

Samuel May, Constable. 



Return. 



John Canon 
Samuel Agnew 



had 39 votes. 
" 34 " 



178 



List of Voters 



L,ist of Voters. 



Matthew Johnson 
Chas. Campbell 
John Hays 
John Stephenson 
Alex. Smith 
John Paul 
Samuel Hanah 
James Merchant 
Wm. Spiers 
Andrew Ruple 
George Stephenson 
George McColough 
James McElroy 
John Boyce 
Thos. Laughlin 
Wm. Sinclear 
Nathl, Tanehil 
Robt. Paul 
Geyan Wallace 
Robert Henry 
George Wallace 
Hugh McNight 
Alex. Castles 
John Cannon 
Andn. Munors 
John Todd 
Wm. Marshal 
Jas. Gutry 
Andw. Ritchie 
John Robinson 
James Sheerer 
Angus McCoy 
Thos. Merchant 
James Gault 
Thomas Struthers 



John McCole 
John Struthers, Jun. 
Thos. Ramsey 
Hanea McClelland 
James Manary 
Thos. McDowel 
Robert Porter 
Robert McClnsky 
James Morison 
Robert Gutrj' 
James Miller 
Joseph Thomson 
Moses Thomson 
Daniel McCoy 
Alex. Struthers 
Abm. Dehavin 
Thos. Hews 
William Sheerer 
Isaac Weaver, Jun. 
Hugh Patten 
Craig Ritchie 
Robert Montgomery 
James McClelland 
Daniel Gott 
Joseph Porter 
George McComb 
Peter Kerns 
John Lindsay 
Robt. Welsh 
Wm. Hays 
David Hamon 
Samuel Egnew 
Robert Hamon 
Robert Hews 
David Shearer 



INDEX 

A 

Academies and log college in Western Pennsj'lvania . . 126 

Academy at Pequea 127 

" of Rev. Samuel Finley 127 

Act of Incorporation of Canonsburg Borough 163 

Agnew, Samuel, mention of 159 

Allison, James, mention of 142, 143, 146, 148, 152 

Arnot, Dan, mention of 86 

Associate Presbjterians 86 

" Reformed Presbyterians 86 

B 

Ballentine, Plugh, mention of 23 

Barcus, Daniel, mention of 114 

Bausman, Jacob, Ferry of 108-144 

Bayard, Col., Stephen, founder of Elizabeth 109 

Bears 72 

Birds and bees, absence of 75 

Black, John E., mention of 23, 76 

Blackmore, Nathaniel, mention of 140 

Blair, Rev. John, mention of 126 

Bouquet, CoL, mention of 106 

Bowland, Robert, mention of 148 

Bowman, Jacob, mention of 112 

Boys, John, mention of 146 

Braddocks road iii 

Bradford, Dr., mention of 154 

Breckenridge, H. H., mention of 126 

Briceland, Thomas, one of the first councilmen 17 

Brown, John, mention of ^6 

Brown, Dr. Matthew, mention of 77-84 

Brown, Dr. Matthew, occupation tax of 23 

Brown, Moses, mention of 86 

Brownsville, mention of 106 

Butler, Mr. attack upon by Michael Cresap 136 

Bunting, Redding, mention of 115-116 



i8o Index 



c 

Canon, Col. John, builder of the stone college 67 

" " " road view by 128 

" " " first mention of 1 1 

" " " appointed justice of the Peace by 

Lord Dunmore 12, 75 

" " " takes oath of allegiance to Virginia 12 

" " " appointed sub-lieutenant 13-53 

" " " furnishes rations to the Militia.... 13, 14 66 
" " " Representative to the Sup. Ex. 

Council 12 

" " " elected Justice of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas 14 

" " " signs call for Militia to, meet at 

Braddock's Field 14 

" " " appointed attorney in fact by George 

Washington 15, SS 

" " " entertains George Washington 16-149 

" " " donated lot to Canonsburg Academy 15, d"], 156 

" " ^' as a conveyancer 16 

" " " date of his death S7-I54 

^' " " names of his children 16, 154 

" " " his influence as a politician 28, 55, 65, (id 

" " " as a man of affairs 65 

" " " present at the opening of the U. S. 

Mail 15 

" " " ear marks for cattle of 140 

" " " mention of 140 

" " " location of his mill 54, 143 

" " ^" attempts to have the county seat lo- 
cated at Canonsburg 144 

" " " Protest against 144 

" " " agreement with purchasers of lots . . 147 

" " " f ac simile of one of his deeds Appendix 

" " " fac simile of power of attorney 

given him by George Washington, Appendix. 

" " " as an advocate of Virginia titles ... 55 

" " " his ancestry, little known of 52 

Canonsburg. first plot of 146 

" when laid out 16-146 

" when incorporated 16-159 



Canonsburg Centennial i8l 



Canonsburg, act of incorporation of 163 

" first Burgess and Council of 17 

" Academ}'-, account of the opening of 149 

" Borough tax duplicate for 1802 169 

■' Borough tax duplicate for 1804 172 

Cabins of the early settlers, how built 73-4 

Cameron, Donald, mention of 148 

Campbell, Alexander, mention of 152 

Carpenter, Christopher, ferry of 108 

Catfish Camp (Washington) mention of 107, 140, 141 

Cecil Township, names of voters for Justices of the 

Peace in 1788 174 

Chambers, Wm. B., Report to Council 4 

Chanceferd Congregation, reference to 127 

Chartiers Creek, declared a navigable stream 28 

" evidence that it was navigated 54-155 

Chartiers Township, election for Justices of the Peace 

of 177 

Charters (Hill) Church, mention of 158 

Chartee Settlement, early mention of 134 

" " party from, joins Dr. Connolly ... 136 

" " attempt to locate 138 

" " road views to 140-143 

Clarke, Wm., reference to IS4-I55 

" " one of the first council 17 

Clay, Henry, reference to 112 

Coal Bank, right of inhabitants to get coal 19, 20, 147, 160 

Coal, prices of 23 

Committee of Safety, inhabitants formed into 22 

Connolly, Dr. John, letter of to Dunmore 136 

Cotton, Hugh, mention of 146 

Council, open meeting called 3 

Councilmen, pay of 18 

Councilmen, how attendance secured 20 

Crawford, Capt. William, mention of 137 

Creigh, Alfred, quotation from history of 107 

Cresap, Col. Thomas, reference to 106 

Cresap, Capt. Michael, reference to 53, 136 

Cressay, Michael, ferry of 108 

Cumberland road 112 



l82 Index 



D 

Day, Sherman, quotation from '. . . 112 

Deeds, reference to those of Canon 16 

De Haven, Abraham, mention of 148 

Devore, James, ferry of 108, no, 140, 145 

Dill, Thomas, mention of 74 

Dodd, John, mention of 146 

Doddridge, Dr. Joseph, mention of ' 129-152 

Doddridge, Phillip, mention of 152 

Donaldson, James, mention of 154 

Dunlevy, James, mention of 152 

E 

Edgar, James, reference to 13, 128-142 

Edgerton, Thomas, reference to 140 

Election of Councilmen, where held 16 

Elizabeth, oldest town in Allegheny County , 109 

Emery, Joshua, reference to 21 

Emery, Boyd, reference to 23 

Emigrants, where they came from 69 

Emigration of Pilgrims and Puritans 67 

Evans, David 132 

Ewing, Blaine, first address of n 

" " second address of 119 

" " portrait of 120 

F 

Faggs, Manor, reference to 126 

Fee, David H., address of 26 

Ferries, enumeration of 108 

Fire engine procured 24 

First settlers, where they came from 68 

Folk lore, absence of chroniclers of . 82 

Fooks, Paul, reference to 132 

Forbes road, reference to in 

Forts, when occupied 71 

Fort Stanwix, treaty of 130 

Frazer, John, mention of 85 

Froman, Paul, mill of, mention of 139, 140, 141 

" " mill of 139 

" Solomon, mention of 140 



Canonsburg Centennial 



18-! 



G 

Gallatin, Albert, reference to 

Gault, David, reference to 

Gibson, Rev. complaint of 

Giffin, Andrew H., builder public school 

Gist, Thomas, mention of 

Greer. Jerrard, mention of 

H 

Hamilton, Alexander, motive of, in Western Pennsyl- 
vania Insurrection ' 

Hamilton, Robert, unique punishment of 

Hamilton, David, reference to 

Hannastown, reference to 

Harrison, Robert, reference to 

Hayden, John, mention of 

Hartuppe, Wm., mention of 

Hays, John, mention of 

Heath, Henry, ferry of 

Henderson. Rev. Matthew, mention of 

Henderson, Ebenzer, mention of 

Heirlooms, absence of, accounted for 

Hogs 

Hollidaysburg, mention of 

Hornish, Squire, mention of 

I 

Innis, James, mention of 

J 

Jefferson College, distinctive characteristics of 

" " its teachers compared 

" " account of the founding of 

" " John Canon's part in it 

Johnston, Henry, mention of 

Johnston, David, mention of 

Johnston, John, one of the first councilmen 

K 

Kerr, William, mention of 

Kittanning path, mention of 



112 

148 

21 

24 
106-140 

154 



57 
141 

27 

135 
132 
112 
17 
159 
108 
29-150 

15^ 

68 

18-160 

105 
11 



140-142 



83 

84 

149 

58 

143 

150 

17 



105 
152 



i84 Index 



L 

Lambing, Rev. A. A., address of loi 

Lambing, Rev. A. A., portrait of facing page 102 

Land, Johnny, mention of TJ 

Leatherman, Dr., occupation tax of 23 

Ledlie, Joshua, mention of 154 

Leet, David, appointed sub-lieutenant 13 

Leet, Isaac, mention of 146 

Leet, Jonathan, mention of 146 

Little, Nicholas, mention of 159 

Linden, town of, mention ot 12 

Logan, James, mention of 125 

Lot owners, names of, on first plot of Canonsburg 148 

Lot owners, names of, in 1795 153 

Lynn, William, ferry of 107 

Mc 

McClelland, James, occupation tax of 23 

McCook, Dr. H. C, mention of 82 

McCoy, Daniel, mention of 148 

McCready, James, mention of 146 

McDowell, John, purchases land for Dr. McMillan .... 138 

McDowell, John, tenders the oath of allegiance 141 

McDowell, John, mention of 150 

McFadden, Hector, location of his house 22 

McKeesport, ferry at 109 

McKee, David, mention of log 

McLain, Daniel, mention of 152 

McMillan, Dr. John, first missionary journey 128 

McMillan, Dr. John, deed to 138 

McMillan, Dr. John, reference to 150 

McNary, Thomas, reference to 159 

M 

Market House, ordinance for protection of 19 

Market House, removal of old and vote to rebuild .... 21-22 

Market days fixed 19 

Marshal, William, mention of 148 

Marshel, Col. James 55 

Martin, John H., occupation tax of 23 



Canonsburg Centennial 



185 



Merchant, Thomas, mention of 

Mercer, William, mention of 

Miles, Manasha, mention of 

Miller, Rev. D. R., Centennial Ode of 

Monongalia County formed 

Morgan, Doctor, mention of 

Morganza, mention of 

Morrison, James, mention of 

Munn, John, mention of 140, 

Munel, John, mention of 

Munro, Andrew, (Nailer) 

Munroe, Andrew, (tavern keeper) 

Murdock, Dr. Samuel, mention of 

Murdock, Alexander, mention of 

Mounte-banks, prohibition against 

N 

Names of taxables in Canonsburg in 1802 

Names of taxables in Canonsburg in 1804 

Names of voters present at election of Justices of 

the Peace for Cecil Township in 1788 

Names of voters present at election of Justices of 

the Peace for Strabane Township in 1788 

Names of voters present at election of Justices of 

the Peace for Chartiers Township for 1790 

National Road, reference to 

Neville, John, reference to 

Neill, Reynolds C, mention of 

Nemacolin's path 

o 

Ohio ' County formed 

P 

Parade, composition of, on June 26th, 1902 

Parkeson, David, mention of 

Parkinson, James, mention of 

" John, mention of 

Joseph, mention of 

Parkinson's Ferry, mention of 



154 

155 

20 

89 

141 

139 

82-132 

148 

141, 142 

146 

17, 23 

23, 148 

17, 21 

21 

18 



169 

172 



174 
176 

177 
112 
56 
24 
105 



141 



47 
146 
no 
109 

^3 
109-110 



i86 Index 



Patterson, Rev. Robert, mention of 149 

Patterson, Rev. Robert. Portrait of 

" " his account of the founding 

of Jefferson College 149 

Patterson, Robert, reference to 85 

Paramour, John, mention of 143 

Peas, Nicholas, mention of 142 

Paxton, Rev. John R., mention of 36 

" " " " address of 63 

" " portrait of facing page 64 

Penn, Governor, proclamation against settlers 131 

" opens land office 132 

Pentecost, Dorsey, mention of 56, 136, 139, 152 

Pequea Academy, mention of 126 

Phillips, David, mention of 142, 143 

Pilgrims, mention of 67-68 

Pioneers, habits and customs of 68, 69, 71 

Pittsburg Gazette, quotation from 152 

" compared with Brownsville 27 

Play actors and puppet shows, prohibiton against .... 18 

Pollock, Samuel, mention of 146 

Presbyterianism, the stronghold of 122 

Presbyterians, antipathy of, to the Quakers 133 

" different sects of 86 

Preston, William, mention of 132 

Putnam, Rufus, mention of 108 



Q 

Quakers, reference to religious belief of 133 



R 

Ramsey, Dr., mention of 87 

Rankin, Thomas, mention of 143 

Red Stone, mention of no 

Red Stone Creek, mention of 106 

Read, John, mention of 142 

Reed, David, mention of 159 

Reese, Thomas, reply of 60 

Revivals, reference to, in Canonsburg 87 

Riddle, Rev. M. B., address of 79 



Canonsburg Centennial 187 



Riddle, Rev. M. B. portrait of 70 

" William, mention of 149, 150, 152 

Ritchie, Craig, mention of 21, 23, 146, 148 

Ritchie, Col. Matthew, mention of 148 

Roads, from Gists to Paul Froman's Mill on Chartiers 140 

" early petition for, to Chartiers settlements .... 134 

" from Froman's Mill to Froman's Mill 140 

" from Catfish Camp to Providence Mounce's Mill 140 

" from Pentecost's Mill to forks of Yough 142 

" from John Canon's Mill to Pittsburg 143-144 

For plot of same see appendix. 

Roads, from John Canon's Mill to Washington 144, 145 

" enumeration of roads in Washington County in 

1784 145 

" Braddock's iii 

" Forbes iii 

Cumberland or National Pike 112 

Robbstown, mention of loS 

Roosevelt, Theodore, quotation from 122 

Ross, James, mention of 127 



s 

Salt, as an article of commerce 14, 66 

Searight, Thomas B. quotation from 112, 115 

School, grant of land for subscription school 21 

School house, the English, mention of 150 

Scotch-Irish, Character of 69, 70, 162 

" their colonization in Ireland 124 

" their colonization in Pennsylvania 125 

and Quakers 133 

" a tribute to 123 

Scott, Abraham, mention of 152 

" James, mention of 142 

" Thomas, mention of 12 

Seceders, The, mention of 86 

Shannon, Samuel, mention of 139 

Shurtee Settlement, see Chartee Settlement 

Shurtee's Creek, mentioned by Washington 16 

Simpson, Jeremiah, mention of 159 

Sinclair, Samuel, ferry of 108 

Singhorse, Abraham, mention of 20 



i88 Index 



Smiley, Rev. W. B., address of 7 

Smith, Deveraux, letter of 137 

" Joseph, mention of 127 

" Dr. William, mention of 85 

Snodgrass, James, mention of 152 

Snyder, Prof., mention of 85 

Southwark, mention of I lO 

Speer, Joseph, letter of, to St. Clair 136 

Speer, Thomas, mention of 161 

State Ridge, mention of 127 

Stevenson, Dr., mention of 23 

Stewart, Hon. Andrew, mention of I12 

Stocks, erection of, in the borough 18 

Stockton, Lucius, mention of 115 

Stone College, vote to buy for site of Public School . . 24 

Streets, grading and stoning of 23 

Swearingen, Andrew, mention of 141 

" Thomas, mention of 152 

T 

Taverns, time of closing regulated 18 

Tax Levy in Canonsburg 161 

Tax Levy in Canonsburg, names of taxables for 1802. . 169 

Tax Levy in Canonsburg, names of taxables for 1804. . 172 

Thomas, Michael, mention of 138 

Thompson, Dr., mention of 148 

Todd, John, mention of 148 

u 

Ulster, Province of 125 

" names of counties and area of 125 

V 

Van Eman, Garret, mention of 142 

" " Andrew^, mention of 22 

Virginians, mention of 135-136 

w 

Washington, Pa., reference to 145, 150 

" George, visits John Canon J 6, 65 

" " power of Attorney to John 

Canon. See appendix. 

Washington, George, his opinion of Canon 16 



Canonsburg Centennial 189 



Watson, John, mention of 17, 21, 23 

West Augusta, District of, abolished 141 

Westbay, Henry, tavern of 15 

West Newton, mention of , 108 

West Nottingham 127 

Westmoreland County, established 134 

Wilson, David, mention of 17 

White, Wm., one of the first councilman J7 

White, Nathaniel, mention of 146 

White, John, mention of 146-159 

Williams, Evan, mention of 142 

" Samuel, mention of 85 

Wilmington, (Del.) landing place of the Scotch-Irish 126 

Witherspoon, Samuel, mention of 154 

Wolves 72 

Work, Rev. J. M., address of 36 

Wylie, Wm., mention of 152 

Y 

Yeates, Richard, mention of 142 

Yohogania County formed 141 



H 71 89 . 






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INDENTURE OF JOHN CANON TO THE TRUSTEES OF CANONSBURG ACADEMY FOR THE OLD STONE COLLEGE 

The lot was given and building started in the summer 1791 but the deed was not delivered until 1796 

Half Tone from the original. See page 149 




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